A family
by Blazeraptor54
Summary: What happens when you got six adoptive kids, work for a racist boss, barely make a scratch of what you take, and all the while trying to display yourself as hero? Well luckily, for Naruto a not so lonely bachelor, he's got a friend who knows how to cook...and even gives discounts to her ramen stand. Not only that, when you actually finally get a partner in crime, life gets better!
1. Chapter 1

A large ship transporting cargo was anchored just off the coast of Vale, it's security consisting a few android units that were around the ship. As they slowly made their rounds, one spotted a figure cloaked in all navy blue standing on the railing of the ship.

"Halt." The electric solider states as part of its program, "present identification."

The android's response to the request was a knife that screeched through the air, the android had no chance to avoid it, the knife simply went straight through its head. The figure jumped into the air, skipping off a cargo pod, the figure moved as if he was a feather in the wind.

Two of the other androids came over, investigating what had just occurred. The androids normally white eyes suddenly glowed red, indication of combat protocols being activated, but it was for naught as both were suddenly taken to the ground by two more knives.

The figure stood there, behind them, before sliding the knives out of their metal craniums. Slowly, calmly…almost like a ghost since his footsteps made no sound once so ever, the figure walked slowly towards the helm's office for the ship.

Something moved at the top of the figure's hood before he suddenly leaned back as a sailor appeared to his side with crowbar in hand. The figure spun around as he leaned back, delivering a devastating kick to the side of the man's face with his left foot.

The ship's alarms started to blare out as the figure started to quick his pace, slowly he looked around, before throwing his knives to both sides of himself. The knives soared through air, two androids appeared on his opposite sides, and just like the other three had knives buried into their heads.

The figure's mask, a porcelain in the likeness of a swallow, got stained by a drop of oil when one of the knives hit a pressure valve on the machine. Sighing, the figure finally spoke, revealing a male's voice. "I just had this cleaned…"

Looking up, the figure saw the captain, before crouching down and jumping upwards. He kicked off a light post to gain height, much to surprise of the captain, it looked like this figure was doing stuff one would normally would see a kung fu movie with too much string.

As the figure landed, the captain reached for his pistol, only feel a cold metal up against his throat. _"_ _So fast!"_ the captain looked at the masked figure before shaking, dropping his pistol, "please don't kill me…I have a family…please don't kill me."

"Set the autopilot for this boat to go to the north end of Vale's ports, then tell your men to get in the lifeboats and sail opposite. You will then join your men, leaving this vessel and all of its contents. Failure to comply will be met with death." The figure speaks as he presses the blade against the man's neck, "am I to be understood?"

"Y-yes sir." The captain walked over to the console, pressing a single button, "all men to your life rafts. I repeat all men to your life rafts, this is not a drill. Explosives have been found on the ship, I repeat explosives have been on the ship."

While he was speaking he had begun to set the autopilot.

Turning to the figure, letting of the button, "satisfied _sir_?" the captain questions with a hiss.

"Yes, you should think about a career in acting." The figure quipped as he nudged his head, "scream before I change my mind on killing you."

Wasting no time, the captain quickly ran, as the captain ran out, the figure slowly watched as the ship began to move. Chuckling, he simply took a seat in the captain's chair, before feeling a vibration in his pocket.

Pulling out the source, his scroll, the figure chuckled as the ringtone played. _"_ _The rain is falling down; the rain keeps falling on my head."_

A children's song, "I'm going to get her back for putting that on my call alert."

Swiping across the scroll, the figure put his scroll against his ear. "Sup?"

 _"_ _Have you got the ship?"  
_ "Already on its way, so tell me, this is a small military cruiser from Atlas. Why wasn't it more armed, what did you all send me after this time?"  
 _"_ _Does it matter, you're getting paid handsomely for it."  
_ "Heh, guess you're right."

A loud crash rang the ship, before the figure sighed. "I'll call you right back."

The figure got up, seeing a large mechanical knight standing at the ship's bow. Smirking under his mask, the figure simply exited the helm's central office as the knight launched a shoulder mounted rocket into it. Luckily, somehow, this didn't stop the autopiloting going on.

The blast blew the office away, however the figure simply floated down onto the deck of the ship. _"_ _I think that captain is going to win a golden idol one day, usually I play people like a fiddle."_

The machine slowly stepped forward, drawing a blade out from its arm where it had kept it hidden. The sword it was wielding was in the style a very large longsword. The machine itself stood six meters in height, easily tripling the height of the figure facing him down.

The machine started to run forwards, slinging its arm back, the figure just stood there as the machine slung it's in arc over its head. Stepping to the side, the figure watched as the sword smashed into the deck of the ship, before he spun around.

Several flows of white light and air slowly formed over the figure's right palm as a ball of pure blue and white energy formed. The ball then gained a shell of blistering wind around it as it started to form four blades on opposite sides to each other.

All this occurring in the single spin the figure had made. When the spin finally came to its full three sixty, the figure leaped off his right foot. Cocking his right arm back, he announced what his attack was. "Rasenshuriken!"

The bot was smashed center mass, a loud explosion sounded as waves of wind rolled off the ball, before the machine slowly got picked up into the air. However, once it did, it was then sent flying upwards, smashing into a cargo pod on the way up.

Holding his fist closed as he looked dead at the ball of white and blue light shooting off with the machine like a comet, the figure simply smiled. "Expand!"

The screech that filled the air was massive, followed by a thunderous boom as the comet was replaced by a stationary sphere of swirling and unyielding wind. Very few parts of the giant metal knight escaped the sphere.

The wind created by the sphere churned the seas until a large waterspout formed over the sphere, before finally it collapsed into itself. The masked figure stood on the ship's bow, glaring at the captain as he retreated.

"You're very lucky that takes a lot of aura to use captain…because I would throw another one for you." The figure states just loud enough for the captain to hear.

The vibration came back, making the figure grumble in frustration. "Yo." He picked up the phone.

 _"_ _What the hell was that?!"  
_ "A giant metal knight attacked me."  
 _"_ _Well get back here, and I swear if there is any damage to the ship you're taking a pay cut!"_

The figure looked at the disheveled deck, before looking back at his scroll. "Yeaahhh…" the figure drawled, "so tell me…um…do you have an electrician in your gang?"

 _"_ _How bad?"_

"Eh…just some facial damage…" a piece of metal from the top of the helm that was barely hanging on fell and created a loud groan on the ship, "and…metal…damage." He sucked his teeth as he just sighed.

"I'll take a fifteen percent pay cut."

* * *

A blonde-haired teen slowly walked, it was snowing along the path he took on a forested area inside of the walls of Vale City. Wore an orange gi with a red sash around his midsection to help hold up his black pants, his black overcoat was hanging on him loosely.

On his wrist were black and red clothed armguards, and on his back, was a staff. Sighing, his foxlike ears on his head twitched as he neared a rather large building. He had bought the building on short sale a long time ago when an owner foregone to pay the bank their money.

Currently he was hoping to fix it up a little more, but that was another struggle for another day. Right now, as he neared his home, he heard the laughter of several children. Smiling, he soon came to the door of the large building, knocking on it.

A child answered the door, his hair was orange in color, and he had foxlike ears as well. The boy's smile beamed as he shouted out, "brother Naruto is home!" he quickly turned to see several human and faunus children stop playing/watching TV to turn to the doorway.

"Hey Gama, I got your candy." Naruto smiles as he talks to the small child sitting on the sectional's end.

The small child had pink hair with green on the tips of it, she had yellow eyes. She was faunus as well, her trait being the claws she had on her hand. To a lot of children outside of the house, Gama looked scary, but to everyone she was just the shy little sister.

A teen girl soon enters the room after exiting the kitchen area, "Naruto!" she calls as she runs over and hugs him. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing just average clothing consisting of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "How did work go?"

"Went good Ayame, how's every one of my little squirts doing here…giving you trouble?" Naruto eyed one, a human boy with red hair and eyes. "Ji?"

"Ain't got nothing to say, Dukang here kept Gama and Chichi up all night." Ji states as he crosses his arms while chewing a blade of grass, "complaining about some ghost."

"G-ghost?!" Naruto yells he looks around rapidly and looks at a skinny black-haired boy. "Dukang, for real…a ghost?!"

"I just saw this shadow, it just kept staring at me…" Dukang answered innocently while tapping his fingers together.

"Eh…well…guess I better call a monk." Naruto comments as he looks towards Ayame before giving a politely uniformed bow. "Thanks again Sister Ayame, I'll be sure to stop at the shop tonight and pick up dinner for us."

"Don't mention it man, we're straight, you just keep our streets clean." She says as she begins to walk out. "Oh, and Naruto. Maybe you should consider getting this place a little bit of a woman's love and touch."

The blonde blushed a little bit, rubbing the back of his head. "Ehe-he-eee…good one."

She smirks before speaking in a much lower tone. "I know a girl who'd like to meet you."

"And I know six…wait…Ji, Dukang, Gama, Aoi, and…where is Li and Aka?" Naruto stopped before Ayame looked around, pinching the bridge of her nose, and Naruto huffed. "I'mma whoop them…I swear it!"

* * *

Two children stood on a busy street, holding a picture of their brother. One had blonde hair, and another had red hair, both having blue eyes. "Excuse me miss, you look beautiful, are you single! Would you like to meet a prince!" The blonde politely but excitingly shouted out.

"Hey, you, don't be stingy, yeah so what if our brother is a faunus he's single and ready to mingle!" The redhead shouted.

"He's also super mad!" they heard their brother yell as he landed in front of them, quickly snatching his picture up. "Li, Aka, what the heck are you two doing?!"

"Trying to get you a wife." Aka crossed her arms, "besides brother you're seventeen today!"

"Oh…right…it's October." Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I forgot my own birthday."

"We didn't," Li states as she held up a separate photo, "so we're trying to get you a girlfriend."

"Hey, hold up, why wife then Aka?" Naruto inquires as he looks a little redhead in front him.

"Well…aren't wives supposed to be girlfriends first?" Naruto chuckled at Aka's questions before sighing.

"Aka, Li, listen. I work very hard for us, each week I make sure that you're all clothed…fed…and properly educated. It's a lot to ask, but I'm glad to have to stepped up for you all, but I'm asking as your older brother here." Naruto took both of their hands. "Don't run off again, don't worry about this stuff, it's adult stuff, and promise me you'll take down that sign."

"Nice butt…" Naruto turned his head to a passing redhead as she winked at him, before refocusing on Aka and Li. Aka smirking at Naruto as she nudged her head at the woman walking away.

"No…" Naruto deadpanned, making both girls lower their heads in defeat.

* * *

Naruto soon brought Li and Aka home, and walked into where Ayame was patiently waiting. "I'm so sorry, they're so quick."

"Well two ten-year-old twins are devious, right Li, Aka?' Naruto eyed both the girls.

"Yeah…"  
"Yes sir."

"Good," Naruto walks up to Ayame and smiles as he this time hugs her, "don't hold yourself down for this…they run out all the time."

"Okay…" Ayame rubs the back of her head, "well dad needs me at the stand."

"Alright, be safe." Naruto lets her go, before following to the door.

When it closed, Naruto turns around, and slumps down. "Ahh…finally, peace and quiet."

"Candy…" Naruto was broken from the shy little noise, and Gama standing in front of him holding out her hand. "Big brother…please."

"Here," Naruto hands her the candy, "just be nice and give some to your brothers and sisters."

Naruto felt something drop from his coat, before picking up his porcelain mask, and sighing. _"_ _I wish there was another way to do this, but they need me to do this…Hunters don't make much money legally at least and it's a lot riskier running into a horde than running into a few armed guards."_

"Dukang, do you wanna play Outlast Ninja Two?" Ji called out to the child.

"Sure brother, brother Naruto, can we use your T.V?" Dukang inquires as he gives Naruto a look with his eyes, before watching the blonde smile. "Sure…Aoi go set it up for him."

"Right boss!" Aoi saluted Naruto as he ran towards his big brother's room.

 _"_ _Aoi is the oldest of my bunch, he's going to be turning twelve soon…he wants to be a Hunter. Ji is a little butthead, but he's my go to guy on being blunt honest. Li and Aka always tease him for being kind and obedient, but they'll learn one day that he does it because he's head honcho if something goes wrong…no…can't think like that. Gama, and Dukang are just six…they need a role model and…a father I guess."_ Naruto looked at all the kids, before smiling, and getting up.

* * *

Naruto and family had all finished supper, which was ramen and chicken with several vegetables as side dishes. Naruto watched as Dukang got up, walking towards his shared room between him, Ji, and Aoi. Li, and Aka had decided to stay up and watch tv.

"Li, Aka, make sure to clean up before going to bed. If you clean up good I'll make sure to buy you two some crushed ice as a treat if I go out tomorrow." Naruto says as he walks over and picks Gama up, bouncing her around a little bit.

"Okay brother, night." Li calls out as they turn the tv over to A Hunter's dream, a child's cartoon about Huntsmen.

Naruto walks with Gama, taking her into the girl's room. Gama had her own bed, while the girls shared a bunkbed. Naruto had built the bed frames himself, minus the pillows, covers, and mattresses. Pretty much everything was what he built with local trees in the area.

Even the house's wooden flooring.

In fact, he redid the house by himself, and often wondered if he'd just should get a job being a carpenter. However, carpenters tended to need education, education costs money, and that money is what he didn't have now.

Naruto placed Gama on the bed, covering her up as he lightly singed for her. "Renchaku ha na hanasanai." He lightly singed as he tucked her in before watching slowly start to snore. "This unforgettable love, this attachment, I will not let go."

As he walked over to the door Naruto cuts the lights off, before turning around, and smiling at her as his fox ears lightly twitched.

* * *

Naruto was standing outside of the house, he had a sketch book with him, sketching what he was planning to do with the house on how to expand it out. He thought about adding a porch on the front of it so the kids could be out in the rain, he thought about a garden.

He imagined a woman working in that garden, wearing white clothing, he even drew her in. Smiling, he made sure to make a note at the top in very small letters to color this in and frame it. He flipped the page, redrawing the more serious manner of his task, and went around house doing so.

He even thought about fencing, placing a shed at the back, maybe starting a small parcel farm for when the others got older to help him. Naruto stopped, before long, and looked at small wild rose bush growing in his back yard.

Walking over to it, he gently stroked the rose bush, which even responded to him as he flowed blue and white energy onto it. The roses blossomed more, changing several colors, before he picked out three blue and pink roses. Chuckling, he looked at his bundle.

 _"_ _Definitely doing a garden."_ Naruto spoke in his mind as he looked back at the house, before sighing.

Each one of the children in his home were children he took off the streets. Children that had been hungry, cold, and alone. Gama herself was the newest edition to the ever-growing family Naruto had started with Aoi a couple of years ago.

Back then he and Aoi both were on the streets, it was just Naruto took care of him more than he did himself. Naruto got involved in his practice of professional theft by benefactors who needed things, and not necessarily legal. He was actually pretty good at it, it was a lot better than some low-level job.

Naruto pulled out a piece of paper, smiling, it was birthday gifts and dates. Each going by the oldest to youngest.

 _"_ _Aoi-12/12-wants a new game.  
Ji-10/23-wants a swing set.  
Li, and Aka-11/23-wants a makeup/sword.  
Dukang-2/12-wants painting kit.  
Gama-5/13-wants candy." _

Naruto sighed as walked back, and leaned against a tree.

"Wonder when my next job will be…"


	2. Chapter 2

A shadow slowly emerged from the corner of a dark room, the mask of the swallow figure was evident in the dim lighting inside the warehouse. "I got your call Roman." The figure states as he crosses his arms, "another job?"

"Indeed, my mask wearing compatriot of theft, we've got another job lined up for you, it's a big one." A man with orange hair stepped out of the shadows, he wore a rather expensive suit with a bowler hat on his hair. He held a cane with his right hand as he stopped walking.

A girl with multicolored eyes and hair soon appeared next to him, "Neo here got wind of a shipment of dust from the S.D.C coming into port tonight. You're to simply go about and take down their antiair batteries so we can swoop in like the majestic bastards we are."

Chuckling, that's what Roman heard, before the figure spoke up. "I like the plan, tell me, what's the guard looking like?"

"Well Swallow, good question, Neo here told me that there is a few of those big knight mechs there. However, from what she saw, only one is active." Roman brought up a hologram projection and the figure identified as Swallow slowly walked over to it. "The others are actually activated by a central computer in the helm of the ship."

"I could just pull the ship out of harbor then." Swallow offers as he looks the map over, "for a fifteen percent increase of course."

"You see though as damn delightful it would be to have an Atlas cruiser, it's a frigging cruiser." Roman points out as he looks at Swallow, "you're to simply to do as your told. No fuss, no mess, no problems."

"Heh, so how much am I looking at here?" Swallow inquires as he immediately takes a mental note of all the battery locations.

"If the job's done like it should be, you're looking at about fifteen thousand liens and not a copper less." Swallow gave a gruff sucking of his teeth as he heard the number.

"That's all," Swallow looked at Neo, "and I bet she's getting what…fifteen percent."

"She's the greatest asset I have, along with you being the muscle and clandestine operative. She's literally the brains to everything that goes on here Mr. Swallow." Roman grumbles as he looks at the uniformed master infiltrator.

"Heeh…" he let out a sigh of frustration, "double it. You're easily pulling well over a five hundred thousand lien worth's of precious gems."

"Fine, thirty thousand." Roman grabbed a stack of money from his wallet, tossing it over to Swallow, "fifteen as a starter."

Swallow pocketed the money, "I'll be ready in thirty minutes, have your Bulwarks moving within twenty-five minutes…it won't be long."

* * *

Swallow dashed along the sides of a cargo pod before dropping down and split kicking two of the guards' unconscious. Dashing up a cargo pod he twisted himself around before launching several kunai laced with Electric Dust against a large antiair battery.

Landing with a soft thud against the top of the cargo pod, Swallow turned around before looking over at the other large battery and quickly threw kunai at it as well. Dashing over the tops of the containers he began to read out labels while holding his right hand's index finger to his ear.

"There is Electric Dust at the front of the ship, Fire Dust in the middle, and Gravity Dust at the back from what I seen. Two of the four guns disabled." He called out as he slid under a guard before kicking the poor man in crouch and caused him to fall backwards off the pod he had been standing on. "No casualties so far."

 _"_ _Okay Mr. Swallow, you've got about five minutes to disable the other guns."_

Nodding he brought his hand down before jumping across a few of the pods, before silently leaping over the only active knight. He quickly made his way to the back of the ship where the other two guns were, and like the rest, simply short-circuited them.

Atlas may have been the most technologically advanced civilization on Remnant, but the reliance on their tech for war was a pitiful excuse for the supposed mightiest army on the world, especially since electric dust easily disabled their weapons.

He was about to turn around when he heard a large bang, before leaning backwards and avoiding a trail of white light that nearly got him in the head. Smirking under his mask, he came face to face with the leader of the ship. A righthand lady to be exact to Atlas's massive military, Winter Schnee.

"Isn't it a little late to be out miss?" Swallow called out as he noticed several guards pointing guns at him from below, "I've got to say you Atlas people have really good acting skills. So, what let you believe that I was on the ship…the guns being disabled?"

"Enough talking." Winter ordered as she pulled out two swords from a single hilt which made Swallow whistle, "by order of the Atlassian Kingdom you're under arrest for sabotage."

"And theft."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Oh nothing."

Shaking her head, she looked towards her man, all of them cocking and aiming their rifles at Swallow. "Madam…forgive me, but I cannot in good conscious not match your force with a lesser force." He spoke as he crossed both of his arms, before the guns sounded off when Winter nudged her head. Only to watch in shock as a massive blast of wind erupted from the center of the man before her, "but this Swallow must take flight upon a heavy wind." The bullets all stopped due to sudden drop and increase of air pressure.

Her men, all of them without proper training to withstand such an attack was sent scattered across the ships bow, all alive, but all knocked into varying states of unconsciousness. She glared right at the man in front of her, before twisting both swords in her hand until they formed an ice and fire like coating.

"I'm guess you control wind as your Semblance?" She inquires before he shrugs.

"It wouldn't be untrue…but not fully true." He cryptically states as he drops into a fighting stance.

 _"_ _Swallow we're inbound, one minute."_

Smirking under his mask Swallow easily avoided Winter as she dashed and attempted to slash his head off. It was like a dance between the two, Swallow easily avoiding the prodigy by twisting, jumping and leaning opposite to each slice and stab.

Simply producing a blue energy around his arms, she watched as he casually blocked her blades. _"_ _Incredible…"_ was all she could think of as she spun on her foot and attempted to rapidly attack him. Hoping it would break the energy shield he had put around his arm, maybe cut it off.

However, she came to a jerking stop as her main blade was caught, making her look at Swallow. "You're incredibly skilled miss for a basic grunt, a huntress? Yes, you must be, I'm rather impressed with myself for holding up this long against you."

"Enough talk!" Winter yells as she jerks the sword from his hand, frowning with no blood on her blades.

Sighing, Swallow looked at her, before he looked over at the four inactivated metal knights. "Not going to lie, but I understand why you wouldn't risk a bunch of these things roaming around on the deck of this ship. Especially with so much Burn Dust, Gravity Dust…and Wind Dust. You'd probably burn this entire dock to the ground."

"Is that what you're planning to do?" She growled her question out as she backed away more.

"Oh no," in a blur that made her stumble back Swallow appeared in front of her, "if I wanted you dead it'd only be less than a minute."

Winter changed tactics before backflipped and launching two separate waves of elemental fury off her swords via a single glyph appearing in front of her. Swallow, chuckling all along merely clapped his hands together as a blue wall of energy protected him.

Winter's eyes widened, he had just blocked a very powerful attack with aura alone, and that wasn't even a part of his natural over shield. She looked over his shoulder, noticing several Bulwarks coming in. She never called in reinforcements, but a look at the man from in front told her that he was more than some saboteur.

She felt a large thump from behind her as a metal knight landed behind her, before arming its rockets. "Target the Bulwarks!" She ordered it, only to hear a loud screech of wind.

She had a look of utter surprise on her face as she dove off the cargo pod she had jumped to, just in time to watch the metal knight get blasted off its feet and into the sky. The metal knight was careening up in the air, before the woman looked up and saw the sphere blast out in a thunderous roar.

Shaking, fear running through her spine…if she hadn't dived off the pod…she looked over at him. "Wh-what…but how…when?"

"I'm not needing to go into detail, but let me remind you, you sit on possibly the _biggest_ bomb of dust crystals in the harbor. If I had aimed my attack lower my aura would've mixed with the Gravity Dust…and then…well you, your men, the dock workers, the people probably near the dock would've all been killed." Swallow stared right into her very soul, "would've been the biggest mistake of your career madam…a callous and fury fueled. I'd call you brilliant, but you're too stupid to take the hint."

Looking over from below, she saw the man standing there with arms crossed. "It's advisable madam that you just stand down!" he yells as she gets up to glare at him, "there's no sense losing a life over some stupid dust. I took careful measures to make sure you and your men will live through the night. But, as for that look, I'll answer it."

Holding his hand out, he slowly, but surely formed another. Holding his hand above his head, "I could've killed you at any point."

Deforming the sphere, Winter was helpless as she saw the transports coming in. She watched as they quickly put their magnetic cables onto their selected cargo…all Gravity Dust, before dashing away. She even noted, rather fearfully, that the man she had been fighting chose a Gravity Dust pod to stand on.

She always had a habit of keeping combat times, looking at her wrist mounted scroll, she took note that the entire engagement she had…and her possible death would've just happened in under a minute. She shook.

Why had he been so calm about it all, why spare her, was it sport?

 _"_ _Specialist Schnee report!"  
"Specialist Schnee, come in."  
"This is General Ironwood what's the status of our cargo!"  
"Specialist!" _

Sickeningly, and shaking, she merely brought her scroll up to her mouth. "Thi-this is Specialist Schnee, four cargo pods of high grade gravity dust taken…one metal knight destroyed along with four antiair ship batteries…all of my men incapacitated."

* * *

Naruto was slowly waking up, he looked around, feeling something laying against him. Looking down he saw Gama had crawled into bed with him, she always had night terrors every so often. Sighing, he got up, slowly picking her up as well.

Walking into the hall, he opened the girls room before walking over and placing her in her own bed. Sighing, Naruto stroked some of her before smiling a little bit. Tucking her in, he stretched as he began to walk out of her room.

Looking out a window Naruto noted that it was early morning, pulling out his scroll from his pocket he dialed a few numbers before a lady's voice came into his ear. _"_ _Your account balance is twenty thousand-two hundred lien and seventy-six coppers. An automatic bill payment of fifteen thousand and six hundred lien will be deducted from your account as per banking agreement on your mortgage."_

Groaning, Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath. "I wonder how much I still owe on my twenty acres here…" Naruto states as he slides over to get his clothing, his working uniform as he came to call it.

Slowly he put the tops on before walking towards a bathroom to put the bottoms on. Hearing a toilet flush, he watched as Aoi came out. "Oi brother, what time is it?"

"About morning time." Naruto says as he looks at Aoi with a smile, "go wake up Ji and tell him to get Dukang up. I'm going to have you help me today."

"Oh okay, sure." Aoi ran into the boy's room, before long, Naruto heard screaming from Ji followed by groaning from Dukang.

* * *

"So, what are we doing out here?" Ji questions as his left eye twitched.

"Oh, simply my little man, we're going to be cutting up oak trees. Which is why I am giving you and Aoi an axe." Ji and Aoi looked at Dukang as he held a shovel. "Dukang is going to at the yellow posts I've placed around the house the past week…now I don't expect him to get done today…he's small. You two on the other hand will be working at pace with me. I'm going to cut the trees down and you'll simply be chopping at the lengths I've marked."

"Yes sir!" Aoi saluted Naruto as he quickly picked up his axe.

"So, what's all this for…exactly?" Ji questions as he picks up his axe, "and why aren't the twins helping?"

"The twins are going to make dinner, I left them a how to guide on the future by their chore list. Doing this with me exempts you from chores this week since it'll be a lot of work…and as for what it was…I thought someone wanted a swing set."

Ji's eyes widened as he had a smile develop on his face, he bent down quickly before picking up his axe and holding it in the air. "I'm ready to cut down this entire forest then Naruto!" Ji yells as he bounces up and down.

Aoi and Naruto looked at each other, rolling their eyes, they watched as Dukang walked over to where the posts were marked.

"Okay guys, wait here for me." Naruto states as they slowly sat on the ground into the thicker part of the grass.

He walked over towards the forest, grabbing some chains with hooks on them.

* * *

He walked for maybe five minutes till he came upon a large oak tree. Smiling, Naruto simply held up his right palm before a large blue sphere formed. He cocked his arm back, stepping into the strike as he slammed the ball into the tree. "Giant Rasengan!"

The tree's bark stood no chance as Naruto's technique cleanly burrowed through. However, rather than making it explode out, he maintained its shape so he could grind it along the tree to form the notch he needed.

Finished, he walked behind the tree before jumping up and tucking his body in. "Waaahoo!" he roared as he drop kicked the tree with all of his might, causing it to fall towards the missing hole of the notch. Which soon made it fall complete over.

Dusting himself off as he got up, he walked over to another large oak, repeating the process. This time however, he formed the Rasengan and blasted the tree down. Sighing, he stood there before the fallen tree and walked over to another. The trees themselves were much larger than the ones he had been cutting down before.

Finished with the third one in an even faster motion, Naruto quickly hooked the chains deep into the bark of the trees before pulling the chain over his shoulder. Each tree had to weigh at least several thousand pounds, putting up some resistance for Naruto.

The blonde slowly came walking into view of Ji and Aoi, who stared in awe of their brother. "Holy crap…" Ji states as he watched Naruto drag the oak trees behind him.

Naruto sighed, taking a seat on the ground as he stopped in front of the boys. "Alright you two, give me a minute…wooo…I'm beat."

* * *

Naruto and the boys were all hard at work while the girls inside were busy cooking. The groups each made their tasks up to standard, Naruto's standard at least. The girls had prepared some tea for the boys and some sandwiches as they attempted on dinner.

The boys were all breathing heavily as they kept chopping against the axe, "look-on-the-the-bright-side-Ji-no-chores-for-a-whole-week!" Aoi said in between breaths.

"I'm doing this for the swing set!" Ji yells out as he kept pace with Aoi despite being younger.

Dukang actually had the ground dug up where Naruto thought he'd stop, but the blonde smiled when the boy kept going. "Doing good Dukang!" Naruto calls out as he stops chopping, "when you're finished head in and take a bath!"

Dukang smiled, nodding as he spoke up. "Sure papa!"

Dukang, the innocent five-year-old, didn't catch what he said. However, Naruto just stood there, feeling a pang in his heart. Chuckling a little bit, Naruto looked at his sketch on his drawing pad that he carried with him all day. The ground being dug up for the garden was coming along. Now, if he can figure out a way to get the river to run closer to his home.

 _"_ _Who needs bulldozer when I am the bulldozer…"_ Naruto summarized in his plan with gusto, creating a chibi version of himself using the Rasengan to dig a trench to flow water into.

Plus, it rained a lot, making the effort minimum at best. However, his thoughts went back to the recent job he did, as powerful as he was he knew that the girl he had fought was also powerful. Sighing, he didn't mean to put the fear of God in her but he made sure to have her stand down before he escalated things.

He never, ever wanted to use his full power again…

Clearing his head, he watched as his family toiled before looking up at the sun. Putting two fingers into his mouth, he whistled loud. "Alright guys, that's enough for today! C'mon, let's go have supper!"

Aoi and Ji let their axes fall onto the ground before they fell backwards. Naruto looked on, laughing as he went and picked both up and placed them under his arms. "Alright lazy fishes, I'm going to get ya in."

Naruto walked, spinning around every so often so Ji and Aoi could laugh.

* * *

All the boys, now washed up, sat at the table as the girls came in as well. Li was smiling brightly as well as Gama as they handed out the food they made. Aka on the other hand, the resident spitfire, she simply held a bowl of burnt mac and cheese.

The boys chuckled, making Aka blushed as she put the bowl down with a thud. Naruto, warmly smiled, patting her back. "Don't worry Aka, it's happened to me before, now c'mon let's get to eating."

All of them sat down, before Naruto let them get their plates first. Just leaving enough for him to make a small plate for himself. Smiling, he gladly picked up a bowl, putting some ramen into it. Gama stutters as she starts to speak up.

"T-thank you all for enjoying our food…and being a family."

Naruto was glad no one noticed, he had actually let a tear fall out this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Swallow dropped from a ceiling, before dashing over into the shadows. He was sent on a scouting mission for a benefactor other than Roman for once, in fact Roman got the mission directly from the benefactor. If proven successful Swallow heard that he'd be getting more missions, and for fifty thousand liens for just a basic scouting mission this was golden.

 _"_ _This Flame Temptress to Swallow, how far along are you in the prison complex?"_

"About the third floor in, this place is locked tighter than I miser's purse miss, but they never bother ceiling airducts." Swallow said as he continued to sneak in the shadows, avoiding several guards. "What am I looking for?"

 _"_ _A captured faunus by the name of Tyrian, he's a bit unhinged and most likely would be in a very heavily guarded solitary section of the prison rig. I'll be happy to throw in another ten if you free him and get him to extraction."_

"Just so I'm on the know basis, why is he even in here?" Swallow questioned as he pressed against a door, before feeling of it…it was very cold.

 _"_ _He committed three counts of first degree murder, mostly on Schnee higher ups, even targeted the Schnee's younger daughter before."_

Stopping as he opened the door, Swallow sighed as he looked around. "Roger that…" he growls as little as possible before walking over to the computer monitors in the room he was in. Seeing them he looked at them before pulling a chip out of his pocket and placing a finger up against his ear. "Roman."

 _"_ _Bout time you chimed in, what's up? Better not be screwing up this million-lien job."_

"No, of course not." Swallow growls as he inserts the chip into the drive of the computer, "I'm needing you to hack in and see where exactly this bastard is."

 _"_ _Ooh, someone wake up on the wrong side of the unemployment line today?"_

"Just get it done." Swallow says as he watches the chip flash red before the computer screens turned red as well. He watched as his room's position flashed on a rather detailed map on the ship…while Tyrian's flashed two levels below him.

Directly below him.

"Hot damn…" Swallow chimes as he walks over to the room's door before placing his hand on it.

Focusing, he slowly traced the inner locking's of the door, forcing the airlocks to compress and lock it. It broke the compressor mechanism as well making this door unopen able without proper tools…or explosives.

Quickly finishing his task of sealing the door, Swallow walked over to a wall before grabbing a kunai from his belt. Jabbing it into the wall, the masked man slowly sliced an X mark into the wall. "That about does it, and now for the easy part."

Walking over to the middle of the room, Swallow crouched down before holding his right hand out.

A loud screech filled the room as Swallow formed a Rasengan in his hand before expanding outwards into a giant Rasengan just slightly wider than his body. Standing up, he cocked his arm back, before slamming it into the flooring.

Tearing of metal, concrete, and plaster filled the room as it's flooring collapsed. As it did, the guards in the room below it all got outside in time before calling an alert over the radio. When one pointed their gun at Swallow who had another Rasengan ready to go, the masked man simply blasted him with wind from his free palm.

The guard flew back against the wall, before sliding down slowly, groaning all the way. His buddies came running towards him, before they heard the airlock door slam shut with another gust of wind.

Focusing, Swallow slammed the Rasengan onto the floor, causing it to burrow this time instead of blast through the flooring like the upper floor. Dropping into the hole that was made, Swallow ended up in a cell where a faunus man was laying in his bed.

"Tyrian," the man turned over to see the masked infiltrator, "time to go…get up."

"I don't wanna," suddenly a tail lashed out and nearly stabbed swallow in the head, "and you can't make me ha-ha-ha!"

Grabbing the tail, Swallow put his hand over his earpiece, "so this guy is bat shit insane."

 _"_ _Yes, but if you need to knock him out, please do so."_

"With pleasure." Pulling the tail hard, Swallow turned as he sent Tyrian careening towards him before kneeing the man right in the sternum.

The pain did the rest, knocking him out cold. Grabbing and draping the faunus over his shoulder, Swallow looked up. Jumping up with graze, he threw Tyrian through the hole first before catching him as he came up.

Draping the man over his neck, he got a piece of wire out and tied both his hands in a hurry before looking up and running towards the wall in the room. Running on the wall, Swallow began to go upwards in a spiral using only momentum.

As he slowed down his run, he perceived everything in slow motion as a red glow emanated from his mask's eyeholes. Forming Rasengan in both of his hands, he slammed his left most hand against the X marked wall before making it blow the wall out.

Several guards that were rushing down the hall suddenly had to stop as wall blew out from in front of them. They pointed their guns at Swallow who emerged with Tyrian on his back before his Rasengan blasted from his hand and exploded in the middle of the group.

The soldiers blasted by the ball of energy were careening into the walls as Swallow slide on his knees under them all. He had gravity crystal dust laced into the ball, making gravity negative for a mere moment and reverse it in the area.

His aura shield prevented him from feeling the effects and he could slide with a limp Tyrian on his back. The man's height difference added a bit humor since his shoes squeaked on the ground as he was being dragged.

"I'm almost outside, where are you?" Swallow called out as he busted through sliding doors.

 _"_ _Coming in hot, Neo watch those metal knights!"_

Turning his head towards what Roman was talking about, Swallow stopped as he saw two metal knights running towards the chopper. These were the newer…more melee oriented models. The M.K.M.V (Metal Knight Melee Variants.) and they were recently tested in combat against Grimm.

But, against a swallow?

Swallow dashed as fast as he could, pulling Tyrian's arms off his neck. He was at least six hundred feet away. he grabbed the man's hands with both of his and the masked master spun around once. "Catch!" he screams as he throws Tyrian.

Two Roman's common thugs looked at each other before Tyrian slammed into them. Roman saw the metal knights getting closer, before looking at Neo, and then looking at Swallow as he dashed as fast he could.

Swallow waived his arms, a sign for them to get away.

Roman hit Neo's chair several times as she started to pilot the Bulwark away from the rig.

Roaring out as he formed giant Rasengan in both of his hands, he blasted the bots with center mass hits. The blasts being so powerful it knocked the swords out of their hands, and sent them careening off the platform.

Swallow leapt, time moving slowly again as he kicked off a falling mech. Flipping forwards for momentum. Roman watched, stunned at the display, as Swallow grabbed the bar just under the doorway.

Pulling up Neo barely avoided a missile heading for them.

Swallow growled, before pulling himself into the Bulwark, and clapping both of his hands together. As he did a hollow energy sphere formed inside of his palms which expanded as he pulled his hands apart. Several Rasengan began to form inside of the sphere, each screeching to life, before he blasted it forwards as several missiles were shot at the extraction team.

The ball split open, allowing the several Rasengan within to form into bigger ones and distract the missiles good enough that all of them went for the decoys.

Flying away, Swallow leaned against the door's entrance before looking over at Tyrian. "Bastard tried to kill me back there, should've just left him."

"Why didn't you, wasn't our job to extract hi, idiot." Roman growled as he looked at the scorpion faunus with distain.

"It's because she told him about the extra ten thousand liens, greedy-greedy, but winner-winner chicken dinner." Tyrian suddenly spoke up as he leaned against the door on his side, chuckling, he looked right at Swallow. "You're pretty damn fast kid, normally I split someone's skull open."

"Roman…" Swallow says as the man gets into a batter's stance before knocking Tyrian back unconscious again, "thank you."

* * *

Naruto rushed as fast he could, before vaulting over a kitchen chair. The blonde reached out with arms, barely missing Aoi as he ran from him. "Aoi!" Naruto shouts as he rolls forward before tripping the bow with a scissor kick.

"Gaah!" Aoi shouts out as he falls onto the carpet, "dang it you got me!"

"Yes I did," Naruto sat up, "but what did I say about using kitchen chairs?"

"Not to use them." Aoi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, before watching Naruto chuckle as well.

Both laughed as they punched each other's arms, before looking around the house. "Can't believe Ji went nuts after completing the swings." Aoi comments as he gets up before stretching, "pretty soon we're going to have a big home like you promise big brother!"

"Yeah, I'll say, just give time to build a second floor to this thing." Naruto states in agreement he ruffles the boy's hair as he gets up. "Then maybe, just maybe I can get things in motion to be home…permanently."

"I would love that big brother, and then you could find a girl to bring home for once…but that's if you…know." Aoi got awkward suddenly.

"Well, if, what?" Naruto questioned him as he crosses his arms.

"Well, big brother…if you like guys…" Aoi yelped in pain as the older faunus smacked him on the side of the head.

"I'm not, nor ever will I be, gay. Look, Aoi, I know you want a big sister…and Dukang and Gama want a mother. However, my job brother, my job is very dangerous. If I lost focus on you all, for even a split second, I may not come walking through the door." Naruto told him, but then smiled as knelt, "but it's worth it for you all to be happy."

"How long are you going to be home this time…Winter is almost here." Aoi sighed heavily, "wouldn't your job allow you to be here for a lot longer now in the Winter?"

"I hope so buddy, but I plan on being home all month this time around." Naruto told Aoi with a smile, "besides you're getting ready to run free little kit."

"Yeah…I passed my entrance exams, I'm reporting to Signal next year!" Aoi bumped his fists in realization, "and then I can be a great and powerful Hunter. Imagine it bro, Aoi Uzumaki! Greatest Hunter to ever, and I mean ever…to live."

"Bwahahaha!" Naruto laughed as leaned back, practically howling like hyena. "That's the spirit, no one can stand up to the force of your willpower if you always believe that you can do something. Make good grades when you get there and I'll teach you how to use your aura when you come home on breaks!"

"Ji wants to go as well…" before Aoi says before sighing, "but he failed his entrance exam."

"Wait, Ji had an entrance exam?" Naruto questioned before realization hit him, "oh yeah…you two were going to try and join in together!"

"You've been too busy…so we just wanted to surprise you when we both passed…and Ji failed." Aoi says as he looks down, giving a deep breath of sadness. "You're probably mad at him, aren't you?"

"No." Aoi turned to Naruto, before watching him get up. "I'm not mad, I'm damn proud of both of you. Does Ji think I'm disappointed in him?"

Aoi nodded.

"Then I'm going to set the record straight, c'mon, you should be playing on the swings too." Aoi smiled as he and Naruto walked out of the door.

Aoi went running towards the swings they had made as family out of the oak, chain, and pieces of rubber Naruto scrapped. Naruto waited for Aoi to get over to the playground before yelling. "Ji, come here, right now young man!"

Ji watched as the redhead human child got up, walking, almost shuffling his way towards his father figure of a brother. Ji looked up at Naruto, who then nudged his head for him to head inside of the house, but when Naruto walked in and closed the door Ji heard Naruto whimpering slightly.

"Naruto," Ji looks up at him, "something wrong."

"I'm so sorry Ji." Naruto pulled Ji into a hug, before tightly squeezing him. "I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid…man, I never noticed how big you gotten these past three years. Look at you, twelve. Pretty big number for ya ain't it, and you tried to start becoming a Hunter…and I didn't even notice you were going to take the exam."

Naruto looked right at his green eyes, "and I'm such an idiot for not telling you how damn proud of you I am."

Ji eyes widened slightly, before they too watered up. "I'm so sorry I failed."

"No," Naruto wiped a few of the tears coming off Ji's face, "little brother don't be sorry that you failed…did you learn new things."

Ji nodded.

"Did you give it your all?" He added in.

Once again Ji nodded.

"Then don't you dare say you failed, because success comes from mistakes, that's how you get better at something." Naruto points out, before ruffling the boy's hair. "Even if you fail again, if you learn something, you still won out in the end because you're going to eventually beat it."

Naruto and Ji allowed a pregnant pause to form, before Naruto gave him a bright smile.

"Now, c'mon, we're going back outside to play…all of us." Naruto states as he picks up Ji as if he was a small child and places him on his shoulders.

* * *

Naruto was preparing food for the kids as they all sat at the television watching a cartoon movie entitled Panyo, a very child friendly movie from Mistral. At least Naruto got some silence, all the kids enthralled in the movie allowed him to bake.

Well, all but one of the kids, Aka was standing next to Naruto as she tried to learn how to bake. Today's topic, cookies, chocolate and strawberry whipped icing cookies. Aka had furious look on her face as her batch came out, swollen, she just hanged her head in defeat.

"No matter how many times I try, I suck at this!" She yells before dropping her pan by Naruto's perfectly made pan. "Why even bother teaching me, I'm hopeless at this."

Smacking upside her head was Naruto's reaction to the word hopeless, "look Aka you're a spitfire. You've been a spitfire for the last two years along with your twin sister being a bubbly goofball. However, don't ever say that word…hopeless… again. You're not hopeless, it's called learning, and Atlas was not built in a single day."

"But I can't bake, I can't cook, only thing I'm good at is punching!" Aka smashed her fists tighter before sighing, "I'm really am just and only just a spitfire…"

Naruto chuckled before kneeling down to face her, "you're only as good you tell yourself to be. Quick question, if I said you weren't good at something…would you try to prove me wrong?"

"I guess…if it's not baking…"  
"Then you must suck at punching."

Aka eyes lit up as she drew her hand back before smashing it against Naruto's shoulder, making the blonde let out a breath of air as he felt the impact. "Oof, easy there tiger, that may have left a bruise."

"I just said I'm only good punching!" Aka states as she crosses her arms, "why would you question it?"

"Why do you question my belief in you?" Naruto asks her as held her chin up with a smile, "don't doubt me when I say, 'I know you can do it' because I know you can. Now let me try one of these."

Naruto got up, before taking one of the fluffed-up cookies and taking a bite out of them. He at the taste before looking down at her, before looking over at his cookies. "You said you couldn't bake?"

Aka looked away before hearing something slide into the trashcan. She whimpered a little, realizing Naruto had thrown away cookies by the sound of it. However, when she looked back over she noticed that his pan was empty.

"I think your cookies are better than mine," he clutches the pan with both of his hands, "Lady Aka will you share your recipe please."

Bowing, she never saw him bow to her before, then she smiled and wiped her nose in haughty manner. "Well, big brother…it's nothing really…it's an Uzumaki Family Recipe."

* * *

After everyone was done eating, slowly getting to bed as well, Naruto stayed up washing dishes. Sighing, he looked at a necklace hanging on the cupboard. It was a plain copper necklace with a swirl. Sighing, he was about get back to it when a loud voice nearly made him break a glass. "What'cha doing!"

Naruto turned to see Li, she was waiving at him, a bright smile on her face.

"Cleaning." Naruto says as he scrubs the dishes he had, "wanna help your brother out?"

"Sure!" She ran over to him, before nudging him out of the way. "You work way too hard anyway, move-move!"

"Eh?" Naruto looked at Li as she began washing the dishes, before smiling.

"I can clean these off in a jiffy, and I'll even make pancakes for you tomorrow morning." Li states as she finishes many of plates in a rapid.

"Li…you don't have too, you're my little sister I'm the one supposed to be cooking." She turns over towards him, placing her fists on her hips before walking over to him.

She surprised him by smacking him on the head. "We're a family, we look out for each other, ya dunce!"

Naruto stood there, before smiling, and then turning around. "Li…please make sure to turn the kitchen light off. I'm heading to bed."

"Sure, thing big brother, good night!" She almost shouts, before humming a tune as she went back to cleaning.

Naruto walked into his room, throwing off his shirt, before climbing into his bed. Smiling, he covered only to feel someone hop into his bed. "Hmm?" he watched Gama climbed in with her own blanket, wrapping herself up and she looked terrified.

"Monsters are trying to get…me…big red eyes…" She mumbles tiredly.

Sighing, Naruto just reaches out to her and smiles. "Don't worry little sister big brother will protect you."

Nodding, she buried her face into his open palm, cuddling it while falling asleep. However, she muttered a little thank you as she did. Naruto couldn't help it, and smiled as he was brought back to a time where Gama was him as a small child…and his mother was himself laying right there.

It was one of the few times, where Naruto had turn away from Gama as the little girl slept…he didn't want her to see him crying.


	4. Chapter 4

Swallow was quickly making his way through a building, before sliding under a security gate as it started to close. Two guards came out, pointing their guns at him, but he spun around while sliding on his knees and tripped both. Coming to a stop he got up, kicking one in the face, and elbowing the other when he tried to tackle him.

Backpaddling he ran as fast as he could, before coming around a corner and grabbing a gun off a solider who had been caught by surprise. Aiming the gun with one hand Swallow fired the automatic weapon at a bulletproof window before watching it crack.

Leaping and tucking in, he smashed right through the window.

Being five stories high, he quickly reached into his pocket and slung a kunai onto the building which had a strong fiber cable attached to it. Swinging and running along the building Swallow dodged gunfire before leaping upwards off his swing.

Somersaulting when he landed, he managed to jump over the security fence and made a dash for it as several vehicles came screeching towards him.

 _"_ _Got the goods?"_

"Look, busy, call you back later!" Swallow yells as he barely dodged a sword from a metal knight that came from his side.

Spinning around, quickly forming a Rasenshuriken, he slammed the metal being as hard as he could to send it straight upwards. The metal knight flew up, exploding once the sphere started to become larger, sucking his teeth swallow turned to see two high rises building close to each other. Giant guard towers, quickly reaching down he sprinkled fire dust onto his combat boots before dashing.

A platoon of soldiers came into view all of them pointing their weapons at him, but he just gave them a two-finger salute as he started wall kicking up the two buildings. Only to run head first into two Huntsman coming at him.

They wore Atlas military gear, but by the way they were jumping over the roofs, Swallow could tell.

Jumping over one of the Huntsman, Swallow turned and slammed his back heel into the other one. Knocking them out cold before they ever had a chance to fight back, he swore he heard the other shout a name.

Watching as the other Huntsman went to help his buddy, Swallow made a run for it, before diving into a uncovered manhole.

 _"_ _Report."_

Swallow slid to a stop, before taking a deep breath. "I'm good, got away."

 _"_ _Did you get the computer chip?"_

"Do you have my money?" Swallow questioned in return.

 _"_ _Look Swallow, I know other guys are paying well, but brand loyalty is key. I got your money, besides from what I'm hearing we just ran afoul."_

"Not my fault, you sent me on this suicidal mission anyway, but as long as you got my money I'm taking my two-month vacation as planned." Swallow speaks as he slowly walks, "and by the way…really, getting handled by a little girl?"

 _"_ _Don't bite the hand that feeds you…asshole."_

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Besides, how mad do you think they're going to be when we sell this thing to The White Fang?" Swallow leaned up against a wall to catch his breath.

"I imagined my boss would be very pissed off…" Swallow head snapped around, only to barely dodge kusarigama that embedded itself near his head.

Whistling, Swallow looked at the wieldier of the weapon. She, by the shape of the body, was wearing similar clothing to him save they dark gray instead of navy blue. "Since when do I have competition?"

"I'm not interested in small talk, Temptress demands the chip. If you give it up, I'll spare you and even pay you generously for it."

Scratching his chin, Swallow smirked under his mask. "How much we are talking here, if it's below sixty take a hike."

"Fine…seventy." She states, even grabbing the man from her back pocket. "My lady told me you were no different than any greedy being."

"Heh, that so?" Swallow asks as he reaches out for the money, but then pulls his hand back. "Eh…I'm actually needing money from people I trust not to stab me in the back."

"You!" She roared in anger as she twisted her arm and pulled the sickle from before out from the wall and towards Swallow.

She smirked under own mask, in the visage of a snake, but watched as Swallow merely caught the sickle while not even looking. "Oldest trick in the book miss, something I've long since grown immune too."

She twisted her other weapon around, forming a machine pistol in her hand before firing a couple of shots off. Swallow spun around, easily avoiding the shots before dashing backwards. She quickly followed suite, which made smirk.

 _"_ _She's not half bad, wait…I didn't avoid one of those bullets…why did it?"_ Swallow stopped before thrusting his palm forward and caught the feeling of connecting to something.

A yelp was heard, follow by a depression being made into a wall just across from him. Slowly, the girl giving chase to him faded away, replaced with the actual girl in front of him. Still dressed in the same clothing, he chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Interesting, clone?"

"None of your damn business," She growls arming both of her weapons and pointed them at him, "last chance cowboy."

"Hah, my God, you remind of someone! You're quite the spitfire aren't you, seriously though, can't you just step aside I really don't want to hurt you." Swallow began joking only to turn serious in his tone, he then formed two Rasengan in both of his hands. "Let me assure I'm quite capable doing that."

Switching from her guns, she spun both of kusarigama. "Try me."

"Heh, well c'mon, I'm waiting." Swallow taunted as he took a step forward.

"Sorry to say, but I'll be walking away today. Yeaaah!" She screamed as she threw both sickles at him.

Swallow dodged to the left, spinning around before throwing both his Rasengan at her. The girl spun around, before pulling her blades back. Both were surprised when the other both skipped across the water, she fired off a couple of shots only to watch him block it with a barrier.

"Qingong?"  
"Maybe…clone?"  
"Smartass."

She chuckled, he chuckled, before both got serious again. "Well…this certainly put a twist on things, shame I got to kill someone skilled in aura manipulation."

"Hey now, I was only to knock you out." Swallow pointed out, not keeping a serious tone. "but seriously.'

He watched as she pulled back on the handles, only to get stunned when he jumped up and slammed his feet into the ground. Holding down her blades, where she looked up from to him. "How?"

"I didn't survive this long on luck, though I'll give it three forth of the reason why I'm still trucking." Grinding his foot into the weapon, he put his hand behind head. "So, got a name?"

"Do you?" She growled but relaxed when he didn't start immediately attacking her.

"Swallow." Swallow merely answered, "and no…I mean the bird."

Sputtering, "who would've thought otherwise dumbass!" she growled and grinded her teeth under her own mask.

They both then spoke it, "Roman."

"Yeah, you'd think having a mute lady like Neo would keep him in check, nope." Swallow said.

 _"_ _Hey, we can, hear this, you get back to stabby-stabby and rasen…uh…rasen…what the hell ever!"_

"Alright, fine." Swallow sighed, "sorry I'm supposed to get going."

"Oh, not with the chip." She held her hand out, "c'mon help a fellow thief out here eh? Eh?"

"Nah," Swallow turned around, only to avoid a gunshot, "okay that was smart…you had a third gun."

"Don't toy with me, I'll splatter your brains against the wall!" She yelled, "chip…hand now please."

"Okay, calm down Vegeta." Swallow appeared in front of her, making her stumble backwards. "Wouldn't wanna spook you!"

"Bastard…" She growls, getting up, before pulling out…a frigging grenade.

"Wow-wow-oh holy c-crap." Swallow holds his hands out, "calm the hell down. You'll collapse this Atlas made sewer on us, c'mon you know they go to the Schnee for construction…you know how cheap and unreliable this is?!"

"Then you think I'm going to just not have a bargaining chip?" She inquires as she crosses her arms, still holding the grenade.

"Bargaining chip…no, I mean kind of, but I'll be out of here. You meanwhile, probably or probably not, crushed paste. Understand?" Swallow asked as he looked right at her.

 _"_ _My stars are shining bright, I'm flying through the night, and I can't get enough of this happy light~"_

"I swear…I swear I'm going to kill her," Swallow takes out his scroll, "mind if I get a second?"

"You got thirty." The other masked figure said as she tapped her foot in time to the seconds.

"Hey, it's your boss…and my boss, on conference call…" Swallow took a deep breath, "the hell Roman?"

Switching it to speaker phone mode, the voice of Roman blasted into the sewer. _"_ _About time I got a hold of you, listen Swallow don't kill or harm Street Rat there she's a player for our new business partner. We got made, so we're kind of in a forced alliance right now."_

"I'm telling you right now I better be getting paid, or none of you is getting the chip." Swallow states before looking at Street Rat, "and you don't say a word…I'm kind of ticked off right now."

"Excuse you!" Street Rat yelled only to have Swallow put his hand up.

 _"_ _Alright, listen, you're to escort Street Rat to the docks. We'll rally with you there, all of us, since our new partner Cinder is calling for a bit of team meeting. Neo will arrive in submarine, and yes, we've got one finally…don't start jumping for joy…seriously don't Atlas subs are a pain in the ass to navigate around."_

Before Swallow could speak Roman cut the call, "damn it…" he turns to see Street Rat arrogantly holding out one of her hands. "Nuh uh, he didn't say hand it to you he said escort you, so let's move."

If looks could kill, Swallow would be twelve feet under.

* * *

Swallow had his feet propped up on a table, leaning back in a chair. "So, what you're saying is that Roman over there folded his cards?"

"Pretty much." A beautiful woman said as she sat lady like on the seat across from Roman.

Neo was sitting there, a glare shooting between her and Roman, she didn't like this little partnership. A happy Neo is a good Neo, a sad Neo is a depressing Neo, and an angry Neo is the devil. Right now, she was tipping on nine-point-one on the anger scale.

Any higher it'll be like the cake factory incident…Swallow still shudders at the idea of that happening. All because someone, somewhere, probably overworked as well messed up a single banana moon pie. No one died, thanks to Swallow, but Neo leveled the building to the ground.

Funny thing, a girl with a rocket launcher is someone more fierce than a God.

Swallow looked at Neo, a chibi version of her in his head beating the woman's chibi form's head in with an oversized hammer came to mind. It wasn't a pretty sight either.

"Anyway, so you must be the famous Swallow of Vale, the thief that possess power unrivaled?" The beautiful woman says as she lets her gaze fall onto Swallow. "The rumors are seemingly true, and what Roman has been telling me too. A greedy man, but compassionate enough to use his power to lay down enemies instead of putting them down."

"I never liked killing," Swallow answers as he relaxes more, "and the reason why I spare people is because they've got a family somewhere who wants them home."

"Heh, so quaint, but an honest man as well." She says with a slight sultry voice into her words, "maybe if you're not busy later…wanna get a drink?"

"I don't drink," Swallow got his feet off the table, "and I'm not interested…don't have the time."

"Oh my…well Swallow, you may know me as Flame Temptress, but I'm Cinder…Cinder Fall. I work for a powerful benefactor, one who wishes not to be named now, until we come to trust each other…instead of trying to sell each other under the table." She glared at Roman as she said this, "but, alas greed is why we're in this situation in the first place. So, how much was Roman paying you for this job?"

"Sixty," Answered Swallow, "sixty thousand."

"Then sixty you shall receive, well earned, I'm sure you met Emerald here." Cinder motions to the girl in the background as she walks up, she was for the better part stunning.

Beautiful red eyes, green hair that was like lime, a round face with a good physique. That's all Swallow could see, before he realized something, "so you're the girl behind the snake mask, Street Rat." The girl puffed up in anger.

"I'm not a street rat, I'm the best thief to ever live since Shi Yan of Mistral. Emerald Sustrai, and oh yes I'm the girl behind the mask…and still kind of mad how you figured out my attacks." She crosses her arms, "and here you are…an oaf using a table for a leg stand."

"Hah!" Swallow pointed at her, "seriously a spitfire. Anyway, what's the saying, to the victor goes the spoils…I can oaf around all I like."

"With that, now that you've seen her face it's only courteous to reveal yours." Cinder stated as she looked at Swallow.

"Eh…nah, sorry, but my face horrible. I have scars across it, over my eyes, in fact in a botched operation I lost my eyelids. I'm really ugly under this thing, missing teeth as well." Neo and Roman looked at each other as they heard Swallow spoke, "besides a good infiltrator leaves no trace…not even to associates."

"Smart man, I can understand that, just in case someone wants to stab you in the back there's no way for them to know where you went." Cinder realizes what he meant by it, "but I highly doubt you're that ugly."

"Heh, maybe I am…maybe I'm not, but seriously what's the deal with her trying to kill me." Swallow pointed to Emerald, "she's actually quite good."

"I taught her myself," Cinder chimes in, "is my teaching effective?"

"Mmhmm, been a while since I had a tricky opponent. Everyone else just runs headlong into a fight without a plan." Swallow praises, "and I know I look like I'm calling the kettle black here but there's always a method to my madness."

"Well then, gentlemen and ladies I think we're well acquainted. So, here's my proposal, everything we take and get money from we'll give you a thirty percent cut on. In exchange, your infiltrator there is partnered with my own in joint ops, with Swallow taking leadership." Cinder offered as she leaned on her elbows, "and you Neo…my rather dashing lady getting control of some high dollar equipment…maybe even a new umbrella."

"With gifts comes stipulations…what makes you think I won't stab you in the back?" Roman states, "this offer sounds too reasonable for our to be equal to yours.'

"it's because of good faith, and the fact that if you should betray me I'll kill you personally." Cinder held out her hand, forming a glass dagger with inside of it, "and trust me when I say this…I can make death very welcoming."

Swallow got up, before sighing. "I agree to all but one stipulation, I run solo."

"Yes, and two separate thieves are better than one…" Emerald agreed.

"No," Cinder states, "you two will work together on these ops. Simply for one reason is that you have a job and get to breathe Swallow, and you need training Emerald…what better training than to come from a master?"

"As flattered as I am for you calling me a master, I seriously doubt you'd be able to even touch me…so keep the threats on the lowkey level." Swallow hissed as he glared at Cinder, "because I assure you I can disappear easily."

"I'm sure you could," Cinder retorts with a chuckle, "which is why you shouldn't put much stock in my threats against you. However, those two may have a little tougher of a time."

"Not my problem." Swallow says as he looks at Roman and Neo who glare at him, "but I can vouch for Neo that you don't want to take her one."

"Why's that?" Cinder asks.

 _"_ _Oh, Gods everything is on fire, why?!"_

Swallow shuddered slightly, "I've got my own experiences…"

* * *

Naruto woke up inside of his bed, finding it empty, sighing he got up. Snow pelted against his window, noting the light, it must have been noon. Sighing, Naruto put on his clothing, before walking out to see his family all gathered around and watching T.V.

"Hey guys," Naruto took a seat next to Gama who was laying on the couch with a red face, "you all doing okay?"

"Yeah," Aoi said, "Gama is sick though…"

"Eh?" Naruto looked down to see Gama who was shivering slightly, "oh poor thing.'

Naruto got up, going into his room to get his thermal blanket. He dragged out the pale blue blanket and walked over to Gama to where he picked her up gently and wrapped her in the fabric. "You're freezing Gama, you going to be okay?"

Gama nodded her head, "yes…brother."

"Okay then, if your fever doesn't break tomorrow morning I'll take you to the doctor, want some chicken broth?" Gama nodded, and Naruto got up.

The blonde young man walked over to the stove, putting on a pot and getting some cans out filled with chicken broth. Aoi walked over towards Naruto, pulling on his sleeve, "what is it Aoi?"

"Big brother can we go outside and play in the snow?" Aoi asked, "we'll watch over Dukang."

"You all can, Dukang should stay inside too, he's little like Gama…alright?" Aoi nodded, before looking at everyone else.

"Me and Ji vs. Li and Aka?" He asked them.

"Yeppers!"  
"You're on."  
"Let's do this Aoi!"

Naruto watched as they ran to get there winter clothing on, he sighed, and used his aura to make the broth come to a boil faster. Sighing, smelling it, he added some salt and pepper before pouring some into a coffee mug.

Walking over to Gama, Naruto sat by the girl, before holding her in his lap. "Here, sip."

Gama nodded, she slowly suckled on the edge of the cup, the hot liquid returning some color to her face. Finished with her fist sip she snuggled against Naruto, before resting. Dukang was busy painting, "papa…Naruto, is Gama going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Naruto says with a smile, "she'll be just fine Dukang. Do me a favor, go and get yourself a cup as well. Chicken broth has a lot of healthy nutrients in it, it's best you keep your immune system up."

Dukang nodded, getting up and going to get him a cup. Sighing Naruto brushed Gama's hair with his fingers, before humming a little tune.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto, Aoi, and Ji were all sitting outside in the snow. Naruto and the boys were sitting Indian style, with their legs intertwined with each at the ankle. Naruto and the boys each had their knuckles together, before a blue light gathered around Naruto.

"Alright boys, this is called aura, life energy." Naruto says as he opens his eyes, "this is what I'm going to help you unlock today."

Aoi and Ji looked at their brother, mesmerized at the swirling and humming energy around him. "Wow…amazing…it feels so warm." Ji said touching Naruto's glowing arm.

"Aura comes in many colors, but the color of an aura isn't significant to how power it is. Training and diligence matter the most when it comes to usages of aura and growing it. Meditation, almost daily, can increase your pools vastly." Naruto instructs them before getting out a knife, "and with aura."

"Brother!" Ji and Aoi scream as Naruto sent the knife at his neck, only to watch the blade snap and leave a small scratch where he should've been bleeding profusely.

"And, with aura, you gain not only the glow but the shield to go with it. This style of aura usage has many names, I call it in the old language from Mistral, Bōei. Bōei is the first usage of aura I learned as a kid, younger than you two, and it's one of the basics. The word Bōei means defense, and it's self-explanatory to what you just saw." Naruto explains to them while they still wore slack jawed faces, "with this defense you basically almost invulnerable to direct damage so long as you have aura."

"How come you have a scratch then?" Ji pointed out.

"Pressure, it's energy armor but you'll still feel the force and pressure from something hitting you. You see it's like this, if you hit me with a bat I want suffer any true physical damage but damage to my aura and pressure will still cause a much minor injury than a broken jaw or head." Naruto knocked on his temple jokingly. "Though don't get any ideas."

"Can you shape aura?" Aoi questioned.

"Yes, that form of practice is called Katachi, or form. Which is what I was about to explain. Katachi is translated from the old language to form, like I just said. Practicing Katachi isn't no different than mediation, however think of it as a form of Yoga when we get to it. Because, form practice is the process of moving aura around your body to specific points to increase durability in the area or strength." Naruto explained Katachi as he formed a Rasengan in his hands by opening his palms.

"So, does that mean Rasengan is just a technique as well?" Aoi questioned so more.

"Yes, but it's the highest Katachi technique I've ever made. It sounds simple enough, focus aura into your palms…form it into a ball with rotation…but it's far from simple. You may not realize it but the Rasengan is difficult to form. You see Katachi practices control and balance, too much aura in one aura and you'll bleed off. Meaning, you'll just be wasting tremendous amounts for no reason, too little and you might as not have any. With Rasengan however, too much can make it explode and too little just makes it fade." Naruto emphasizes as he explains by expanding the Rasengan until it started to become malformed before letting go of the aura controlling it which made it fade away.

"Combining Bōei and Katachi is forming Kata-Bōei, defense control." Naruto clapped his hands and made an energy barrier come around them, "which gives you the ability with practice form high dense forms aura into barriers."

"Can you use it for attacking?" Ji questioned this time, and smirked when Naruto nodded.

"Hanzai is the form of offence, basically it's channeling aura to your feet and fists, or muscles. It's one of the things you saw me do when I was dragging the trees, that is a form of Hanzai using my aura to just increase my strength. Your strength is only limited to how much control you have and form, using both in conjunction is called Kata-Hanzai. My Rasengan is a form of Kata-Hanzai." Naruto explained as he got up, "you two, stay seated I want to show you something."

Naruto cupped both of his hands together, interlocking them. "Kata-Hanzai meaning form offense is powerful if you have very good control in Katachi." Focusing, they watched as white energy seeped into his palms, "but only after have you mastered Katachi…can you truly bring the best of yourself out."

A screech was heard Naruto opened is palms, resting inside of it was a miniature Rasenshuriken. "This is called Kata-Soshi, form element. Soshi is a style that basically allows you to channel your aura into higher forms, grinding against each other forms wind, shaking it rapidly forms fire, and you get the meaning."

"Kata-Soshi is used by very few, but very skilled people. Out of all the hundreds of Hunters in the world, maybe only fifty can use what I'm about to show you." Naruto cocked his arm back, "you see that tree right there?"

The boys nodded.

Naruto threw the miniature as hard as he could, it soon grew the blades longer and before reaching the tree it screeched to life. The tree was then bisected by the ball of bladed energy, whining as it hit the ground with a large thud.

Aoi and Ji were still sitting on the ground, looking on in amazement as Naruto just kept a calm but serious look. "Kata-Soshi is very difficult, very dangerous, and very unstable. It takes years of practice to even begin taking form, but once it does, you'll be unbeatable."

"Are you going to teach us Kata-Soshi?" Aoi asked, hoping the answer was yes.

"No." Both boys looked at Naruto with surprised faces.

"Wh-what? Why not?!" Ji yelled as he got up, "you can't just show us something so cool and not tell us you're going to teach us!"

"Kata-Soshi can't be taught, it can only be found, everyone has a different affinity involving it. Some people have fire, some people water, some lightning, some wind…but you have to master Katachi before you ever find it…and even then, it's in desperation." Naruto became solemn as he clenched his hands before sighing, "I can teach you Katachi but that's about how far I'll even be able to take you."

"I understand big brother," Ji held his head low, "just wished we could do that."

"You may be able to, depends on what your affinity is one day revealed to be." Naruto smiles as he walks over to them, before motioning for them to sit down. "Now let's begin meditation."

* * *

Naruto stood under a moon, feeling looking up at the broken celestial body, before sighing. It was cold, cold like that night, the night he lost his entire family. The blonde-haired teen just sighed as he slowly walked back into the house, looking at Aka and Li as they both slept.

He felt very uneasy, before looking at his hands. Staring at them, he was brought back to a memory, a dark…horrible memory.

* * *

 _"_ _Mother, father!"_

* * *

A young blonde faunus screamed as a giant Grimm smashed into the village around them.

The giant Grimm was like a bipedal dragon, moving across the landscape slowly, breathing fire across the village as it walked. The young blonde watched as a man and woman dropped down in front of him, "Naruto, go, go!" his father shouted, the blonde-haired man forming a Rasengan in his hands before throwing it at the creature.

"Where's the reinforcements from Chief Ghira?" A redheaded woman asked as she threw her own at the creature that was leveling their home, "shouldn't they be here?!"

"The damn Elder Grimm destroyed the fleet before coming ashore!" Minato yelled before looking at Naruto who was still there, "why are you still here, I told you to lea-ah!"

Minato was crushed as building came flying towards them, his blood splattered across Naruto, who stood there shaking. His mother, the redheaded woman, stood there shaking. The roar came, the roar of hell…the roar of a demon, she looked up to see the monster slowly making its way towards them.

"Father!" Naruto screamed as he formed a Rasengan in his hands before throwing it, his eyes blood red as he chucked the ball into the air.

The ball of energy smashed into the head of the beast, but it just walked unaffected, Kushina his mother watched as the beast got closer. "Naruto…run!" She screamed as she threw the boy to the side, only for a torrent of green and bluish flame to wash over her soon afterwards.

"Mother!" Naruto screams as he watched his mother get burned alive, he crawled into a destroyed building, hiding and clutching himself as the giant Grimm slowly walked by.

It was too focus on the fleeing humans it saw running to be bother with a child.

The rubble shifted, before something knocked Naruto out cold.

Waking up, Naruto found himself still alive in the rubble, slowly he crawled his way out. Noting the village's destruction, he shook as he heard no one. Shuffling forwards, almost falling into the giant footprints the monster left behind, Naruto came upon the scene…the scene of his mother's charred body and his father's crushed form.

Collapsing to his knees, Naruto sobbed as he rocked back and forth. Stifling screams until one escaped, another and another soon followed. Anguish took hold, his ten-year-old body racked with many emotions. Guilt, pain, suffering, anger…hatred. Slowly, but surely the sobs stopped until they became growls.

Pounding his fists into the dirt, Naruto screamed, before lurching upwards as a power washed over him. A power he never felt before, he noticed something as well…the beast was still there. It still was there, it looked like it was making a home out of his village.

It was looking right at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes, blood red, his aura overflowing into a wild flare of burling emotions and pain. He cupped his hands, before looking at the body of his dead parents, Naruto looked right at the monster before wind began to form around him.

All the memories, the memories of his father training him in Katachi, his mother caring for him when he was sick. All these memories of him being a happy child, having a happy family, and then this giant bastard coming to take it all away!

It wouldn't be unanswered, it couldn't just go unanswered, he wouldn't allow it to go unanswered!

"Die!" Naruto screamed as he spun around, launching the massive Rasengan that had formed in his hands, but heard a screech as he looked up and saw it growing blades.

The mass of aura and wind began to flare outwards as it reached the monster, the monster eye's widened as it came towards him. He could hear the boy screaming, he was hungry, he was wanting a snack.

Instinctively, through years of superiority, the beast was going to tank this attack and then move in for the kill. Only, when it felt the blades tear into its body did it realize it's foolishness. It's blood sprayed out, before the beast's head was engulfed in a sphere of pure wind, shredding it apart.

"Die!" Naruto screamed as he threw another, and another, another…and another…

Each with it carrying a happy memory, a memory that'll never be experienced again!

He was swinging to them wildly, some even missing their target completely. The only thing he could feel was the unyielding hatred inside of his heart burling to a point where it finally caught fire.

* * *

Naruto woke up, sweat rolling down him as he shook his head. _"_ _I know I didn't kill it…I just wished I did…"_ Naruto held his hands out in front of him, _"_ _If only if I had the powers I have now…back then…"_

Naruto got up, before slowly walking towards the bathroom to get ready for the day. There, he looked at himself, seeing his mother and father both standing beside him briefly. _"_ _Are you proud of me, do you wish I didn't lead the double life I lead…what would you do in my shoes?"_

Sighing, Naruto walked over to his clothes, putting them on before walking towards his door. Opening it, Naruto saw that everyone was still asleep, slowly walking and silently he made his way towards the girl's room.

Opening the door slowly, he went over to where Gama was and felt her forehead. She was still burning up, sighing, Naruto picked her up. She awoke mumbling a little bit, but soon fell back asleep. She was weak and tired.

Along with being sick, those were not good signs at all. Especially in faunus.

Placing her on the couch, Naruto got out his scroll from his shirt's pocket and called Ayame.

 _"_ _H-Hello?"_  
"Hey Ayame, sorry to wake you up, but I need a big favor. I'll even pay for the time, Gama here is sick and I'm needing to take her to the doctor…I need someone to watch the kids."  
 _"_ _Sure…oh sure, I'll there in about an half an hour, how bad is she?"  
_ "She's thrown up few times before going to sleep, her trashcan had some bile in it so she threw up overnight, she's running a pretty high fever, and coughing."  
 _"_ _Poor thing, okay, I'll be on my way. How long do you think you'll be gone?"  
_ "About a few hours."  
 _"_ _Okay…"  
_ "I'm going to get Aoi up and tell him to answer the door when you get here, I'm just going to beat the morning rush there."  
 _"_ _That's fine."_

Naruto smiled, "thanks sis." He hung up as he walked into the boy's room and nudged Aoi.

"Aoi, get up, I need you to watch for Ayame. I'm heading into the city with Gama to get her a doctor, please watch for her." Aoi eyes fluttered as Naruto spoke, stretching, he soon got up.

"Sure, thing big brother…go take care of little frog." Aoi said stretching, before watching Naruto reach into his wallet.

"This is for Ayame," Naruto walked out of the room before poking his head back in, "get Ji up as well."

Aoi gave a salute before looking at Ji and walking over to him.

* * *

"Well, Mr. Uzumaki, your very right to have brought her in today. She's suffering from Acute Lung Disease, or A.L.D. It carries flu like symptoms, it's common in amphibian type faunus in the winter, it's not very fatal either…but still carries the chance. Though that's like five out of every ten thousand cases, and even then, those are the people who didn't seek treatment once so ever." The Doctor tells Naruto as he continues to read over the charts, looking on as Gama rested with her arms wrapped around him.

"You're very young to be a father." The doctor comments offhandedly, "but I doubt that's the case…sibling?"

"Adoptive, but she calls me papa sometimes." Naruto comments and strokes her green hair. "So, what's the treatment for it?"

"Well, we're going to start a round of antibiotics, and I'm going to give her an immunobiotic booster shot to help her immune system fight off the infection going on. She'll be herself within a month at least, and maybe two at worse. Just make sure she gets plenty of water, warm water preferably to help relax her throat. Tea is also good, if it's made with cordyceps and licorice herbs, but not too much. The herbs will help relax her, and keep her calm." The Doctor told him, before writing the prescriptions.

"Okay," Naruto took the paper once it was handed to him, "how much I owe you?"

"About thirty-five hundred in total…but I bill it to you later, it is the Month of Giving after all." The Doctor chuckled, "I may even forget. The medicines will run you almost five thousand though…pharma companies don't forget."

"Thank you Doctor Shizune, I'll make sure to get you something for end of the month Gift Festival, how's Doctor Tsunade?" Shizune, the doctor chuckled at the mention of her mentor's name.

"Eh, still drinking…gambling." She told him.

"Same old same old?" Naruto questioned.

"Pretty much," she watched him roll his eyes, "tell her if another collector comes after her that I'm just standing on the sidelines."

"Will do," Shizune chuckles, "anyway take care of Gama there will ya."

* * *

Naruto walked into the house with Gama clutched around him, sighing, he smelled food as he walked her into the girl's room. "Hey Ayame!" He called as he quickly passed, before opening the girl's room. He laid Gama down, covering her up, she snuggled against her bed before quickly falling asleep.

The three pills she had to take all had the same side effects, and that was weakness and tiredness. So, Naruto didn't pay too much heed to how quickly she asleep. He looked over at Li and Aka who playing on their little handheld game, "hey make sure you give an ice pack every three hours please girls."

"Will do." Aka waived him off, but she seemed slightly off…he didn't know why.

Walking into the kitchen, Naruto found Ayame hard at work cooking, "you didn't have to cook ya know…I was going to be back in time."

"Oh, come on Naruto you're overworking yourself again, besides if you're going to pay me then I'll at least cook y'all dinner." Ayame states while cooking, "I got an oven roasted chicken in the oven by the way, I went and got it earlier…Aoi was a drooling mess…Naruto."

She turned around to see Naruto sniffing the air, slightly drooling himself. Shaking her head, "no wonder why he does it…and I wonder who he got it from."

"Hey!" Naruto yells playfully, "I'm not that bad."

"When do you go back to work?" Ayame questions as she kept cooking.

"Another month from now, why?" Ayame turned to him, smiling.

"You're getting a very late birthday gift, I'm buying you a hotel room in the city for a weekend and giving you time away." Naruto reeled back in surprise.

"Eh?!" Naruto yells, "Ayame you don't have to do that…I'm fine, really."

"You say that now, like everyone else, but eventually you'll crack under that pressure. So take the gift, shut up, and get ready to enjoy dinner." Naruto smiles at Ayame, "and Aka…well…if you noticed she's been acting weird?"

"Yeah, she was totally dismissive when I asked her to get an icepack for her sister, she usually jumps right on it." Naruto looked, still seeing no Aka.

"Well…she's becoming a woman."  
"I know that, she's getting older all the time."  
"No Naruto, she's _becoming a woman._ "

Naruto stood there, before realizing what she said, and then sighed. "Oh…lovely."


	6. Chapter 6

Gama was laying in Naruto's arms as she slept, her fever had finally broken. The blonde carrying the green haired girl smiled as she rested peacefully inside of his arms, "Renchaku Ha Na Hanasai~" he cooed and singed lightly.

"This love, this attachment, I'll never let go of~" Naruto sang as he laid Gama into her bed, tucking her in, before kissing the top of her forehead. "Get well little frog." He smiled as he slowly crept out of the room.

Ayame chuckled as she saw Naruto walk out of the room, before voicing her presence. "I think it's rather cute that a powerful warrior like you becomes a singer…now all you need is a zither."

"Oh ha-ha-haaa…that was so funny." Naruto deadpanned as he stared at Ayame, before smiling. "I really couldn't do anything around here for a full month without your help."

"Well," she got up from her leaning, "what do you think about my offer? I can afford to close the shop for a few days, take care of my little nieces and nephews here for little bit even if some are trouble making munchkins"

Aka looked right at Ayame, glaring at the older woman, only for Ayame to stick her tongue out. Li laughed at her twin sister, who stares away in embarrassment. Aoi was currently playing his new game, while Li was trying on her new makeup.

Ji was sitting there, he had several bruises where he had tried fighting Aka with his own 'sword' and ended up getting beat up. Apparently, Naruto had a habit of finding spitfire women…and if not finding them, raising them.

It's why he secretly hoped that Gama would remain shy, conserved, and all-around innocent.

Honestly, he never thought about it prior to Aoi mentioning he had a crush on a girl, but now that Aoi was thirteen…and Ji twelve Naruto was faced with the reality of teaching dating. Which was a bit of a problem, because for all that he was worth and good at being the brother/father figure that everyone knew him to be.

Dating?

Dating was foreign to Naruto as the moon is as foreign to the sun.

Could he take on Master Hunters? Yes.  
Could he take on monstrous Grimm? Yep.  
Could he take six orphans off the street and raise them proper? It was going good so far.

But, dating?

Has he ever kissed a girl? Nope.  
Sex? There was an older woman that made a pass at him while he was dressed as Swallow after they had got done fighting…she seemed really obsessed with power.  
Even held hands with a girl? Not out of dragging her harm's way.

So yeah, dating, it was probably the most important thing he forgot off his list.

Learn how to raise kids, check.  
Learn the ultimate combat techniques to destroy opponents, that's a double check.  
Learn how to infiltrate and be the best thief bar none on Remnant, can we get a triple check?  
But, dating and marriage…procreating…intimacy, yeah…that's a big o'l X in the box.

We're talking Chibi Naruto, taking a white board the size of a sixty-inch plasma screen TV and just drawing one big X across it. Foolishly giving a thumb up, before becoming all too aware at the pathetic meaning behind what this meant.

Naruto couldn't date!

Naruto was too busy, he was too overworked as is, and for the love of all holy Twins that if the girl he picked was a drama queen…he may look like a monk with a bold head.

"I…think…I think I'll have to pass." Naruto chuckles, "it' no offense Ayame it's that I don't really like going is out is all."

"Oh c'mon, you're young and supposed to live a little!" Ayame argues, "and if you don't I'll never baby sit for you again."

Naruto's world cracked, before he looked at the one he considered a sister the way one would look a terrifying monster. He weighed his options before sighing, and holding out his hand, "fine…"

A chibi Ayame was dancing for joy inside of her head, before wondering what kind…if any girl Naruto might bring home. His shy personality around women, plus his good looks, and the kindness to boot…he then looked at Aka who smirked a little.

She was so glad she colluded with this little girl, eleven or not Aka was by far a genius for being a firecracker.

There were indeed traitors inside of The Uzumaki Household, traitors indeed…and conspiracy.

The blonde felt her shake his hand, before she gave him a big smile. "So, when would I leave?"

"Tomorrow." She tells him, making him reel back.

"Eh?! Such short notice, what about Gama?" Naruto complains and asks, "she's still sick and I…I need to take care of her."

"Yes she's still sick, and yes you will take care of her, by entrusting her to me for a few days." Ayame crosses her arms, "now c'mon, I'll get supper ready."

"You know for how much you come out here I could probably build a new section in the house to allow you to stay in it." Naruto jokes as he takes a seat, "but seriously thinking of adding a new section."

"Can we have a swimming pool?" Aka asked.

"Ehehe…no." Naruto said, before being glared at by Aka who puffed out her cheeks.

She was spoiled, Li was too, but at least she didn't get angry.

The blonde sighed, leaning back in the chair as the familiar smell of Miso Ramen filled his nostrils. Now come to think of it, if Ayame was little younger, he'd may date her. Ayame looked over at him smiling, she secretly hoped he brought home a girl…for once.

"So, Ayame, what do you think I should build?" Naruto asks as he watched her place bowls around the table and the other children run in.

"You know Dukang likes to garden as well as Gama, maybe build them a small greenhouse. Floriculturists are well sought after, plus Dukang does have a green thumb." Ayame suggests as she finishes by placing a bowl in front of Naruto.

"Yeah, I can't believe the Snowberries came in so fast, it's like he just snapped his fingers." Naruto comments, while the shy boy looks away.

If him and Gama were siblings it would be the perfect trio de opposites. The Balanced: Aoi and Ji, The Hyperactive firecrackers: Li and Aka, and The Shy Guys: Dukang and Aka. Naruto alas sighed, he still had the team names for their volleyball teams for the summer…when he planned on making a makeshift court.

Naruto looked at his family before smiling, "let us pray."

"Twins so dark and bright, twins of day and night, let us feast tonight. Thank you for the life you created, thank you for the food we are taking, let us find peace and balance. Amen." Aoi prayed out loud before he and Ji began to rapidly dig into their bowls.

"Naruto aren't you going…to…" Ayame turned to tell Naruto to get his brothers under control, only to see him slurping down his noodles as well. "Aka, Li…" they were doing the same.

Even shy little Dukang.

* * *

Naruto hefted a large duffle bag over his shoulder, before taking the armpiece and putting it over his shoulder. "Alright, ready to go."

All the kids, Ayame holding Gama, gathered to see him off. "Alright Naruto, you have fun…and I'll look after the munchkins for a little bit."

Naruto gave her a thumb's up, before crouching down and bumping fists with Aoi and Ji. "You two keep up with your meditation, and if you unlock your aura just call me."

Aoi and Ji nodded, "roger/sure."

Aoi gave his big brother a salute before walking behind Ayame, Ji gave a two-finger salute. The two oldest girls came walking up, both hugging Naruto at the same time. Dukang got his turn, lightly bumping fists with Naruto, while Gama merely gave Naruto a hug.

With that, the blonde stepped away from the home, waiving them off as he walked.

* * *

The City of Vale was a huge city, a capital city, and a city that buzzled with human and faunus life. Naruto wearing usual clothing was walking down a main road, this hotel he was going to was smack dab in the middle of the partying part of the city.

Bars around every corner, nightclubs, strip clubs, legal brothels…and probably so much alcohol that you could fill a lake. Music boomed on the road, the blonde watched as several cars slowly drove by, all of them high dollar vehicles.

Turning a corner Naruto came upon his hotel, slowly walking in he met with the front desk clerk. "Uzumaki here for check in."

"Uzumaki…Uzumaki…hmm, ah, here you are." The man said as he grabbed Naruto's keycard. "Your room is on the third floor, it's one of the upper suites. If you bring in a lady friend…or a guy friend, please tap the keypad to let our staff know that you wish not to be disturbed."

"Okay, um…tell me…if you're new to the party scene what clubs would you hit up?" Naruto inquires, "I'm not really in this part of Vale much."

"Well, kid, I'd hit Crow Bar, Moonlight Blossom, The Vernal Delights for a little 'after party fun', and then I'd probably get wasted at Sunlight Bar." The clerk tells him, "Stardust Junction in Vale is pretty much a party lover's paradise."

"So, I take it Leo don't make a show around here?" Naruto inquired.

"If you're into drugs don't worry too much, Leo barely come around here, but I'm looking at you right now and I can tell your no drug boy." The clerk states, "so would you like me to take your bags up to your room so you can go party?"

"Um…I…" Naruto stuttered for a moment before smiling, "yeah sure."

"Okay kid, go wild, just don't kill anyone." The clerk says as he takes Naruto's bag.

Naruto was currently walking the road, looking at the bars and dance clubs near him. Nervousness took him, but he was going to try and have fun on the first night here. If the following nights were any good afterwards it'd be worth the trip.

"Step up one and all!" He heard someone shout.

Naruto walked over to the source of noise, coming to a scene of a ring and an announcer. "This here is The Battle Zone, two fighters place bets, and one walks out with the others money. The fight ends with your opponent knocked out, no lethal weapons or moves. Come one and come all!"

 _"_ _Hello entertainment."_ Naruto smiled as he jumped up, before landing in the ring.

"We've got our first volunteer of the night! Hey sonny, what's your name and how much you are betting?" The announcer inquired.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm betting ten thousand liens." Naruto gave his scroll to the man who scanned it, the blonde crossed his arms when he took his scroll back.

"Ten thousand liens! Ladies and gentlemen, this young man right here is wanting someone to come and beat him up, any ladies or gentlemen out there wanna take up the offer?! Aura users, martial artists, gangsters?!" The announcer calls upon the crowd, "who wants some!"

Naruto watched a woman jumped from the crowd, she had a very familiar face, in fact…

 _"_ _Oh crap…"_ Naruto nearly palmed his face, it was that woman from a while ago that offered a good time. _"_ _Oh well, she doesn't know about me being Swallow so it'll be a good for a round two."_

"Your name madam?" The announcer inquired as he held up the mike to the woman.

The woman just remained silent, but held her scroll out, which was…twenty thousand liens. Naruto eyes widened a little bit, but smirked, "doubling up on me eh?"

Silence.

"Alrighty," Naruto brought his arms to his side, "I'll raise mine to twenty thousand too."

"Forty thousand lien!" The announcer screamed.

"When do we start?" The woman inquired, finally breaking her silence.

"When the buzzer goes off!" The announcer calls, "you'll have ten minutes to knock each other out, failure to do so means the winner is judged by the crowd."

* * *

 _(I don't usually place something in the middle of the chapter, but listen to DBS ost: Death match with Frieza extended...it sets the fast pace fight.)_

* * *

Naruto stretch, before dropping down into a fighting stance with both his hands out in front of him in a boxing stance. The woman did the same, albeit, she had a much looser stance. No sooner than she got into her stance the buzzer ranged, and much to Naruto's surprise she allowed him to make the first move.

Which he gladly did, running full sprint, before somersaulting over her. The woman followed him with her eyes before turned on her heel, kicking him in his forearms when he brought them up to block. The force of the kick slid him back a little bit, making the crowd murmur.

He countered by dashing, delivering a flying kick into her own forearms which sent her back as well, albeit a little further. "Not bad…" she murmurs, "I guess you're not all flash and no show."

"Honestly, I was surprised by your power as well." Naruto white lied as he rubbed the back of his head, leaving himself wide open.

She took this opportunity and dashed at him, before being caught off guard when leaned backwards and turned to deliver a powerful round house into her side. She went airborne for a moment, before correcting herself and dashing right back at him.

Naruto and she began to both block and punch at each other, kicks being thrown in every so often. The blonde wasn't even breaking a sweat and neither was she, "this is a fun fight!"

"Fun?" She inquires, "are you not taking me seriously?"

"A little," Naruto says as he catches her elbow when she attempted to elbow his face, "but I think you need to get serious."

Naruto flipped over, but she dragged off the ground as well, and then thrown into the air about ten feet. Naruto watched as she angled herself, before landing gracefully back down, where she dropped into a new fighting stance. Her hands now open palmed, her feet widespread apart.

Naruto smirked as she charged this time, easily avoiding two kicks aimed at his head, before finally getting a clean hit on her by punching her in the stomach. Which made her grimace slightly in pain, only to for her feel Naruto's palm slam into her chest and knock her back.

 _"_ _I know that technique from somewhere…"_ She analyzed as she watched Naruto stand still, before gipping her fists. _"_ _It must be coincidence."_

Naruto and she charged at one another, much to the crowd's awe and pleasure, both slammed fists into each other's faces. Naruto smirking all the while, before kicking her away from him. Both using aura to minimalize the damages received, she smirked, her gaze falling to a single lightly bleeding cut on Naruto's lip.

Wiping his lip, Naruto chuckles, "that was a great punch…guess I got to get serious."

Naruto closed his eyes, she took this opportunity to charge, only to stop when he opened them to reveal red eyes with slit-like irises. She tensed for a moment, sensing that his aura had doubled from before, she smirked and felt anger rush into her.

Her own aura doubling in its strength.

"Sorry sir, but we're about to destroy ring." Naruto said as he looked over at the announcer.

"You better not!" He screams, "hey kid look out!"

Naruto didn't even have to look as he caught a punch by the woman, before he spun on his heel and attempted to kick her. He was mildly surprised when she deflected the kick, and landed a clean hit on his stomach.

Going to the ground, Naruto rolled backwards, watching her stomp her foot through the wooden flooring of the boxing-like ring. Naruto dashed, delivering a serious devastating punches on her stomach, chest, and face.

She in turn did the same thing, both going back and forth as her eyes started to glow red as well. "Yaaaah/Ahhh!" both screamed as they collided with their right fists.

Aura bursts from them on impact, before Naruto took a large step forward, sending his other fist into her jaw. A large sound emanating from the hit, sending her backwards, and nearly out of the ring. She got furious, and Naruto felt her aura double from before.

 _"_ _Yeah this is definitely her, the only way I won the last time was when I managed to catch her off guard with a Rasengan…wait…she's a Katachi master she won't think anything of an opponent using aura! Gah, I'm such an idiot for letting this fight play out so long."_ Naruto held out his right palm, "enough, let's end this."

The woman nodded, forming a sort of aura like blade from her hand, "let's."

Naruto formed a Rasengan, judging by her look, she didn't seem to know what this was. She really shouldn't because of the fact he hit her from the back with it and never announced it. She and Naruto charged at each other.

"Hollow Blade!"  
"Rasengan!"

Their attacks met, screeching upon impact, before Naruto's attack grinded past hers. She however, surprised him, and turned around to elbow him across the face. Naruto was sent to the ground, but then angled himself to where he sent a foot onto her stomach painfully hard.

Coughing up, the woman fell to a knee.

Getting up, both began to rapidly punch at each other, mostly scoring glancing blows until she caught Naruto and punched him in the eye. Reeling back, Naruto used this momentum to spin around and slam his foreleg into the back side of her leg.

Airborne once more her eyes widened, _"_ _so strong!"_

"Kata-Hanzai Art: Tiger Mountain Press!" Naruto yells as he slams his palm in her stomach, before making her fall to the ground only to have a portal open behind her.

Stumbling forwards, his senses all blaring warnings as she came out behind him, and he quickly reached behind him to grab her leg before twisting around to throw her across the arena. Running at her, Naruto jumped up and delivered three successive kicks onto her guard right forearm, before twisting and delivering an axe kick onto her shoulder.

Which popped it out of place, growling out, he landed behind her before throwing his elbow back. Aura glowing around her he knew that she was preparing for the blow while charging up her own, which she began launching by spinning around to punch him.

Time seemed to slow down.

 _"_ _I will not be loser to this boy!"  
"I will win!" _

"Time!" The announcer calls, watching stunned as both fighters halt their movements almost immediately, the dust kicked around them from the forces of the stopped attacks was the all indicator to how serious the fight was starting to get.

"Not bad…" She breathed heavily.  
"Not so bad yourself, for an old woman." Naruto chided as he chuckled a little bit only to get lightly punched in nose unprepared.  
"You deserved that runt." She tells him.  
"Yeah, probably did…who won?" He asks, "was it me?"  
"No, it was me." She tells him.

"Draw!" Both looked at the announcer, before both looked at each other, "audience divided too equally to ascertain a true winner. Resulting match winnings are to divide evenly, meaning no gain or loss of money. Thank you for your display, give them a round of applause!"

The crowd roared out in cheers, before Naruto sighs, "well guess we're equally matched."

"Hang on," she orders him, "who are and where are you from?"

"Naruto, I'm originally from Mistral, you madam?" Naruto inquired in return, crossing his arms with a light smile on his face.

"I cannot really say here; do you have a hotel room?" She asks.

"Eh…" Naruto thought it over, before looking at her. She was hot, sexy even…eyes were beautiful, but something was off about her. Something that made him think twice, thrice, and finally four times over. "I'm just passing through…besides you're a little old for me."

"Come now, you must be at least twenty-five with your skillset." She comments as they both walk away from the ring.

"Actually, I just turned seventeen…" The woman just stopped there, before her eyes widened.

 _"_ _Please, twins let him meet my daughter…please."_


	7. Chapter 7

Aoi and Ji were helping Ayame set up the table for dinner, it was later into the night, and the children minus Gama had all been hyperactive since Naruto's leaving. "You all seem happy to have your big brother out of the house."

"Yes and no, I'm happy he's out having fun and not working tonight." Aoi states as he places glasses on the table, "plus it gives us time to know our aunt."

"Ha you flatter me," Ayame replies with a smile, "but seriously Aoi…how do you feel about Naruto going to work."

"It scares me…" Ayame turned to Aoi stop, along with Ji, "I know what he does is important…he does it take care of us…but…I'm scared that one day he won't come back."

"Aoi is right, it scares me too…" Ji says, "it's because I have seen him come home with cuts and bruises…and I know that he saw fighting. I know he's really strong, but even the strongest slip up…"

"Do you wish he'd get a safer job?" Both nodded at Ayame's question.

Ayame stopped roasting the chicken in the oven, before sighing, "you know I've been helping him so long with you all I never asked how you all came to meet him."

"I met big brother in Mistral, it was a day after The Lantern Festival…and I was hungry. I grew up on the streets after my parents died of Helix Disease, which was common in Faunus…and I saw him doing these tricks with his aura to get money…so I introduced myself as his assistant." Aoi tells her, "and I assumed that he'd be forced to give me money to eat."

"What did he do?" Ayame asked.

"He took me with him around town, volunteering me as shows of strength and agility. Tossing me around, but never once did he drop me…it felt like I was back at home, playing with my father. We saved up a good a chunk of change each night and he would always pay for the meals. One day he told me we were going to head east…and asked if I wanted to travel with him." Aoi smiles as he speaks, "I've never looked back."

"So, Naruto traveled alone even at the young of age?" Ayame inquires further, sighing in sadness of hearing their initial struggle.

"Yeah, far as I know big brother traveled like a cloud. We came upon village after village, doing shows, getting free food. Then we walked towards an air field with our money, and gave almost all of it up to travel to Atlas." Aoi tells her some more.

"Why Atlas?" Ayame once again questioned as she finished pulling out the chicken.

"Work…Naruto got a job as a miner there." Ji interjected, "and it's where he met me…two years ago."

"My father was human contractor in the mines, he always treated the workers fairly, but often got looked down upon for it. Many of the workers being faunus respected him, but one day, the mine began to shake…they had hit a magma chamber. Naruto managed to get everyone out, but when he went back for my father, the hero my father was…he…he jumped in front of steam vent that blew up. Shielding big brother, but it costed him the ultimate price…and now…I look up to that even if I don't look like I do." Ji shook, his hands clench as he spoke.

"Big brother had worked there a year, before the mine collapsed…they dug him out with Ji's father's dead body. I never saw big brother cry, but he was sobbing over Ji's father…they had been good friends. So, Naruto took in Ji, and promised both us that he would do everything he could to make sure we grew up happy." Aoi finished for Ji who was currently shaking and holding back tears.

"It's something I don't like talking about, but I'm very grateful for Naruto…children usually left up for adoption Atlas never see it happen and they're conscripted into the military soon afterwards." Ji explains as tears drop from his eyes.

Aka walked in, seeing Ji cry, she sighed. "What's wrong Ji?"

"Just talking about how Naruto met us…and took us in." Ji answered his little sister, sighing as he took a deep breath to help hold back his tears.

"Aunt Ayame, big brother Naruto has always put himself second to everyone." Aoi states, "I've seen him go hungry when me and Ji were hungry…I've seen him get frostbite when it came to keeping us warm. I came to view him as my big brother…but as my father as well. He gave so much, to all of us, his heart and soul."

"Do you know how Naruto became alone?" Ayame asked.

"Not really, he just says that he used to live on the continent where all of the other faunus moved to…and that he was in village that got razed to the ground by Grimm." Aoi answers, "he'd probably became the greatest Hunter ever known if it wasn't for us."

"Oh, c'mon on now Aoi, don't play yourself. Naruto took you in because he didn't want us to suffer probably like he had, I have a feeling big brother was alone for a very long time before meeting you." Li came in and interjected.

"Li…" Aka started only to chuckle, "Li was actually found by Naruto being chased by Grimm that had recently attacked our village in Vacuo. This was after he moved there from Atlas, he saved her, and when she pointed back to me he came running over."

"Sis had moxie even has a kid!" Li quipped, "she lured several of the baddies away from me so I could get a fighting chance."

"Almost lost my life…but our parents weren't so lucky…" Aka gaze turned saddened as she gave a huff.

"So, why did you join Naruto?" Ayame asks, "didn't you have anyone else?"

"No…our parents were the only things we had, and with our village totally gone we were left to fend for ourselves. Naruto took us in, and we've been trying… _trying_ to repay him, but anytime we did anything for him he turned it down…instead he just taught us and took care of us. It's like, I don't know, he wanted to make sure we didn't feel any sort of pain." Aka points out, "but I do…still. I cry about mom and dad sometimes, but I cry for Naruto as well…like Aoi…I'm scared that one day he won't come back.'

"C'mon sis, Naruto is invincible!" Li yells, "he's stronger than anyone out there!"

"Heh, I agree with Li…" Aoi chuckles, "my big brother is stronger than a normal person…even Hunters that I've seen in competitions."

"And, we're going to train under him, maybe he wants us ready to fight with him!" Ji called out, "imagine it, us the Trio De Uzumaki! The ugly Aoi, the dashing Ji, and then The Master Naruto!"

"Eh, why do I have to be ugly?!" Aoi yells as he flutters his arms about in a childish manner, "if anything I'm smarter than you!"

"Are not!"  
"Am too!"  
"Are not!"  
"Am too!"

"Boys!" Aka yelled with ear splitting scream, even making Ayame wince.

"Um…thank you Aka." Ayame thanked the young red head as she waived her off.

"Point is, guys big brother is lonely…and whether if he admits or not he's done too much for us. Yet, we're here being kids when at our ages he was probably mastering his skills…" Aoi states before scratching his chin. "I say we put him on a dating site!"

"Actually, I have to agree, you're pretty smart Aoi." Ayame says before setting the table fully, "but still how did he meet Dukang and Gama?"

Aoi sighed, "he met Dukang first. Six months ago, big brother was on a mission into the surrounding village of Vale. White Fang were attacking, he took on them, and they were taking humans as captured victims. From what he told us Dukang was given to him by the elders of that village so that he could live a normal life afterwards…Dukang had always grew up in an orphanage even prior to joining us."

"What about Gama?" Ayame asked as she places the food on the table, "how did he meet her."

"On his return trip to Vale, big brother found Gama wondering the streets in the summer sun. Turns out Gama's parents had abandoned her…well at least that is what Naruto is thinking. However, Gama is actually a hybrid…she's of human and faunus." Aoi explained as he walked out of the kitchen towards the girl's room to collect her.

Ayame sat in her chair, looking at all of them, before sighing. Indeed, Naruto has done a lot for people, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was up to now."

* * *

"Drink!"  
"I said I don't drink…"  
"Drink!"  
"Please stop…"  
"Drink, drink, drink!"  
"Guys…I know it was a good fight but please don't buy me rounds…"  
"One shot, one shot, shot!"

Naruto was setting a very crowded bar, after his fight with the woman, Raven as he came to learn he had become sort of a local celebrity for his fight that night. Ladies wanted to buy him drinks, and the guys wanted to buy him drinks…he was at a loss.

Naruto sighed, "one shot."

"Yeeaaah!" The crowd cheered before a man went over to the bartender, grabbing a shot glass full of a blue liquid.

"Alright kiddo, this here is called Blue Moon Tears, this is the strongest they got. One hundred and ninety-five proof." The man claims as he slams the shot glass in front of Naruto, "and we want you to drink it."

"I said I'd drink one, am going to drink one…can't be that bad." Naruto says as he grabs the glass, turning his head up as the blue liquid slowly poured into his mouth.

His eyes widened for a second, before swallowing could be heard, along Naruto getting a droopy look on his face. His eyes dilated, his breathing became slightly labored, he felt as if time was slowly slowing down a little.

"Wow…" Naruto got up, stumbling a little bit.

"Hey kid, easy there, you should chase that." The man said, "Mint?"

Naruto nodded, sitting back down, "I sai-said only one…"

"C'mon kid, this is party central…quit being such downer. Got any parents?" Naruto looked at the man, sighing, before shaking his head.

"Then you've got no one to answer to but yourself, I say yourself is saying loosen up…besides." The man pointed with his thumb to a very busty blonde behind him. "That chick over there is checking you out…who knows, drink up…and maybe pucker up."

The girl that was looking at Naruto waived with a roll of fingers, giving a sultry smirk at the blonde, who slightly blushed. "Um…I…this is…" Naruto gripped his fists, he felt like he wanted to quit for tonight…but he couldn't bring himself to do it…so with a sigh, "I'd like another drink."

"He wants another! Same thing?" Naruto nodded, and he watched the man run over and get him another Blue Moon Tears shot.

Throwing it back, Naruto gaze fixated on the dance floor, and with a wobble he got up. "I think…I'm going to go dance."

The man chuckled as he watched the blonde walk towards the dance, floor and motioned with his head towards the woman. She quickly got through the crowd, finding her fellow blonde in the crowd, slightly bopping his head to the music.

"Hey sugar," she walks in front of him before slightly swaying her hips to the music, "wanna dance?"

"S-sure I guess…but it's not really a slow song." Naruto nervously stuttered before feeling something press against him, he looked away in a blush as the woman turned around and began to 'dance' with him.

He felt his hands get grabbed, "don't worry…I like it hard and fast."

She placed his hands on her hips, before the blonde nervously gripped and began to move his hips too. However, it seemed that the night's music and high-grade alcohol he consumed was getting to him. "What's your name?"

"You can call me Samui, Sam for short…but anything you want later." She flirts with a sultry grin.

"Um…okay…well my names Naruto…Samui." Naruto tells her before closing his eyes, before feeling his body get into motion.

"Cute name…fishcake." She chuckles as she jokes with his name before turning around to face him. "I love to eat fish~" she leans in and whispers into his ear.

"Um…" Naruto nervously looks away, before feeling something brushing around back pockets. He should've paid more attention, but the music blurred anything out.

Instead, he moved backwards, "I'm going to get some more to drink."

Sighing a mock huff, the woman smirked, before following him. "I'll join you…"

* * *

Naruto slammed back another glass of alcohol, before cheering with the rest of the crowd. "Sun Drop is better than Blue Moon Tears!" he calls out, before chucking another down his throat.

Drunkenly he got up, before walking to the dance floor where dubstep music was playing full blast.

 _"_ _Infinite, infinite, infinite_ _ **power**_ _"_

Naruto got onto the dance floor, dancing rather erratically, body rolling with each drop. He was drunk, but was having fun. A dumb smile across his face as he danced, before throwing his arms into the air interchanging each jump he made before stunning the crowd with a back flip.

Naruto drunkenly began to display his fighting style in a form of a dance, without using aura, before hand-standing with his right hand and spinning around. Kicking out, splitting with each kick and showing his flexibility, Naruto flipped forwards from his arm.

Landing on his back, Naruto began to breakdance on the floor, laughing all the while. Spinning on the floor he got up, watching as someone else entered the circle, before noticing a familiar face. The mint hair, the red eyes, and the round face.

It was Emerald, and she was had entered the circle. She was a uniform of some kind, she began to dance in a similar fashion to as Naruto. He was unsurprised by this, in their brief encounter, the two proved to be equally matched in agility at best with their practice of Qingqong.

What mesmerized him was the flexibility she was displaying, the song bass dropped when she pointed at him. The blonde was confused, did she know? How could she know?! However, his thoughts were broken when he felt the blonde woman from earlier push him forwards.

"Aren't you going to dance sugar? It's a dance battle…" Samui said as she moved her mouth towards his ear, "have fun..."

The only words Naruto heard were "dance, Battle" and it seemed to click as the bass dropped once more before he flipped forwards before landing on his hands and interchanging them as he kicked. The alcohol server walking around accidentally got shoved into the circle.

Naruto flipped backwards, not noticing her, narrowly missing her face with his kick. The tray went up into the air. The shot glasses went flying as well, the crowd groaned as some alcohol was about to be spilt on them.

Naruto kept dancing, before finishing his routine by grabbed a still full shot glass out of the air and chugging it down. Thumbing down Emerald and waived her off as he caught a second one. _"_ _This is too much fun, more, more, more!"_ Naruto screamed mentally.

In his head, an angel chibi of Naruto was getting beat up by three devilish looking Naruto chibis. Each of them grabbing shots that came down periodically, "Party!" Naruto screams as he finished his shot.

Emerald growled before going back onto the dance floor before somersaulting and before landing in a full flex, before back flipping onto her hands and tucking herself into a roll. She landed on her hands again, before flipping over on her back and began to breakdance.

Naruto drunkenly praised the dancing, before prematurely joining in, which resulted in him getting pushed back by Emerald. "Hey, idiot, it's not your turn!"

"Eh, b-but there's not a turn in a battle!" Naruto yells in compliant, before smirking. "I'm winning!"

"No, you're losing, drunk." Emerald crossed her arms, before glaring at Naruto.

"Eh, but I'm not…drunk…oh wow…" Naruto saw the world as wavy in his vision before chuckling. "I'm drunk?"

"No shit, now dance or get off the floor!" A man called out, before Naruto walked off the floor.

Much to the disappointment of the crowd, before he drunkenly stumbled onto a bar stool. "Bartender am I drunk."

"Slushed." The man confirmed for Naruto, who chuckled and nodding towards Samui. "We've got some rooms upstairs you could stay in for a night…along with a pretty lady."

"Huh…oh no thanks…I've got my own hotel!" Naruto calls out loudly, though he didn't really mean to.

Naruto clutched his head, before getting up, "I need to get out of here…"

Naruto slowly hobbled on the floor as the music became louder somehow, before bumping into some people. He heard the crowd scream for someone to drink, noticing that Emerald was on her way to getting slushed.

 _"_ _Something's not right with the alcohol…why do I feel so dizzy…"_ Naruto walked out of the doors before stumbling onto the street, his red eyes glowing as his aura activated.

He felt tired, but felt his aura slowly flush the alcohol out of his system. However, he grew green before throwing up onto the pavement much to the disgust of the people around him. Checking his pants pocket, Naruto eyes widened when he felt his pockets empty.

"Mother…" Naruto grit his teeth before walking back into the bar.

Marching towards the bartender, the blonde sat down glaring at him. "So that's your game huh, give it back."

"Hmm?" The bartender hummed, "don't know what you mean kiddo. Enjoy your free alcohol though?"

"Fuck you." Naruto growled, "where's that Samui girl."

"Hah, well you see kid, if you took up my offer you'd probably be A-okay." The Bartender stated before watching Naruto's eyes glow red before walking over towards the woman in question.

Cursing the Bartender brought his wrist to his mouth, "he knows."

Naruto still felt slightly wasted, but if things turned hostile he was confident he could fight back easily. Getting near Samui, he slapped his hand onto her back pocket, "hey baby…how you are doing?" He growled out before pulling out his kiddie looking wallet out of her pocket.

"Oh, you dropped that, I was just holding onto it for you." She spoke, distracting Naruto, before being stunned when the blonde's red eyes widened before he caught a bat aimed at his head without looking. "Oh…shit…"

"Yeah, oh shit." Naruto growled, before pulling the bat holder forward before tossing the assailant over his shoulder.

When the man was reaching for a knife, Naruto punched him straight into the face, before realizing something. Emerald had begun to get the same treatment as he did, but the thing was with sedatives in the alcohol…

"Where's that mint haired girl from earlier?" Naruto asked calmly.

Samui nervously, pointed towards the back behind the bar, before Naruto slapped her hard across her face. She looked at him stunned, "that's for ruining a good night…" he stated before walking with a furious look on his face.

He stopped as he noticed the bartender came from the back, a smile across his face, before chuckling as he looked at Naruto.

Two men wearing suites with red ties came towards him, each holding a knife, the blonde stopped before he heard The Bartender call out. "Last call, after all, our drinks are a steal!"

Naruto watched as the crowd quickly got their drinks from the bartender, and his staff, before walking out the door and onto a new club. Once the doors were shut, Naruto noticed three more thugs join in, one holding a gun in hands which were over her his crouch.

"Too bad kiddo, you had some good lien on you, you could live through the night if you walk away. This party central is known for people getting loss, a property of The Black Tiger Gang as well…" Naruto eyes furrowed, before cracking his knuckles.

"What's your game here, don't bullshit me." Naruto demands as he drops down into a fighting stance.

"Well, I'd tell you, but you'll be dead regardless." The Bartender states as he reaches down and grabs two revolvers.

"So how about it kiddo, going to leave in one piece or like Vale Cheese?"


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto sighed, before his eyes glowed red, before he got a serious look on his face. "You don't want none of this. Give the girl to me, and we'll all leave here in a fair condition." The thugs laughed as one got onto a DJ booth before playing loud music.

"You see you furry bastard, we're just going to play this to hide your screams of death." The Bartender states before spinning his guns around and cocking them. "Hope you don't mind some King Taco."

Naruto reached into his left back pocket, before hearing the first shots fired, everything moved in slow motion for him as he jumped backwards before pulling some needles out of his pockets. Launching the needles while spinning around, Naruto watched as they buried themselves center mass into the two thugs charged at him with knives in both of their hands.

Naruto was about to charge until a sharp sting coursed through his back, and loud cracking following, he turned to see Samui wielding a thorn whip with metal shavings along the length. "Hey sugar, how uncool of you to forget little old me."

Smirking, Naruto's aura flickered to life as he saw the bartender and gunman began pointing their weapons at him. Reaching into his cloak as they fired, Naruto pulled out his staff. Using his aura, he manipulated the dust content of the staff to change its size to where it was had become an eyebrow height staff.

Spinning it around, Naruto began to deflect the bullets heading for him, before charging at The Bartender, who merely rolled out of the way. Unfortunately for the gunman besides him, he met the end of Naruto's staff.

Spinning on his heel, Naruto deflected several more bullets while spinning on his staff. Charging his aura, Naruto jumped up, spinning around before forming a Rasengan in his free hand. Only to have his arm grabbed the whip from Samui and slam him into the floor.

A loud bang flooded the room as Naruto's technique slammed into the flooring, blowing a huge chunk of it out. Now caught by Samui's whip, Naruto glared at her before erecting a barrier behind him by dropping his staff onto his foot when The Bartender fired several more bullets at him.

The bullets bounced off the barrier, but Naruto's staff started to roll away.

"Too bad sugar, you're quite handsome, I would've gave a you a time of your life." Samui cruelly flirts as she pulls the whip she had, cutting Naruto's arm slightly, "too bad that handsome face is getting cut up in the meat grinder."

"Heh," Naruto chuckles before spinning around and purposely wrapping himself in the whip to bring Samui closer, "Fox tastes really bad."

Before she could react Naruto headbutted her, before roaring out and making his aura's power alone break the whip. Samui growled, bringing two curved knives out from her dress's sleeves, before spinning around to engage Naruto.

The duo began to dance around each other, Naruto not even blocking her as he easily avoided her slashing. "Hold still bastard!" she roars before stabbing both at him, only for Naruto spin around his heel and palm strike her in her chest.

He rapidly began to palm strike her center mass, before jumping up and gripping her shoulders, "raagh!" Naruto roared as he used his momentum to throw her at the disco ball hanging onto the ceiling, she careened into it as she was sent flying, before crashing onto the ground.

He made note a pale-yellow glow around her, before sucking in his teeth. "One down, on-oh hey there, you got friends."

Naruto then heard the breaking of glass as Samui got up, wiping blood off her lip, she smirked as she bit her lip even more. "I told you I liked it rough." The blonde hardened around her finger nails, making them needle like claws.

Naruto watched as a dozen of thugs began to pour into the building, each armed with a sword, while The Bartender smiled and looked at Naruto. "Like them, these are my best, and if should know I'm the leader of The Black Tiger Gang. Samuel McCree…and I believe it's high noon."

Grunting, Naruto dropped into another stance as he faced down Samui. "Oh, but don't worry I believe Samui here is going to enjoy you first."

"Hahaaha!" She roared in laughter as she charged, attacking more vicious than ever, all the while McCree took random potshots at Naruto who put up a barrier occasionally to block ones that there was no avoiding.

Getting slashed across his chest, Naruto found that her semblance could slice through his aura, she was a very real and deadly threat. Naruto headbutted her when she was caught off guard, before spinning around and elbowing her in her ribs.

"Allow me," Naruto formed a Rasengan in his left hand, "to take you for a spin!"

McCree's eyes widened as Samui was sent careening with a loud screech of pain through the bar's alcohol, where further screamed in pain from all the cuts she received when her aura died out.

Naruto's red eyes scanned the room as the thugs jumped down from the balcony before charging at him. Naruto dropped down into a stance, with his palms facing towards the sky and ground, before he smirked. "Kata-Hanzai: Eighteen Form Dragon Subduing Zhang!"

Naruto tucked in as he jumped, before slamming both palms to his sides before blasting them outwards along with a powerful gust of wind. The wind was enough to send several of the thugs flying into the walls opposite of him.

When he landed, Naruto channeled aura into his palms to catch a sword in either hand before jumping up and split kicking the two assailants wielding them. They both went flying away, before Naruto closed his eyes, and snapped them open when a thug stabbed at him. Only for the thug to have his mouth hang open in shock when the sword snapped against Naruto's back.

The blonde blurred from in front of him, before he turned around to see the blonde standing behind him. "Wh-what?!" he screamed before the blonde palm struck him in the head, legs, and arms. The man stood there stunned before being kicked across the nightclub and into the wall by the others.

"Here, take some of your meds ya filthy animal!" A thug screamed as he attempted to use Naruto's staff as a baseball bat, only for it shrink when Naruto snapped his fingers, and this resulted in that thug missing wildly as he spun around.

Naruto palm struck the back of the man's arm, making him drop the staff while the he suffered a broken arm from the strike. Naruto merely blasted him away with another palm strike, before turning to grab a sword aimed for his head by another thug. Naruto stomped his foot on the ground, his staff expanded back to where he had originally had it when he wanted to use it for combat.

This allowed Naruto bend down, pick up the staff, before looking at the thug. "Let's count…you make nine out of the twelve that entered…and you're ninth out." Naruto slammed the butt of his staff into the man's gut before watching the man double over.

Reacting on instinct, Naruto turned around, and formed a barrier to block several bullets from Samuel. Naruto's eyes widened when the three other thugs walked over besides Samuel, who smirked, "light'em up boys!"

They pulled their pistols out, beginning to fire at Naruto, had to use both of his hands to maintain the barrier. he saw a thug who is running from behind, before throwing his leg back and catching a recovered thug by surprise, before he saw his barrier start to crack.

The blonde's hair starts to stand up as more aura pours out him, before he roared out, and sent a wave of absolute power out in the form of a roar. All the gunmen stopped, their guns clicking, Samuel found that he had ran out of the bullets.

Naruto's appearance slightly changed, his whisker marking on his cheeks slightly deepened, his normally round pupils had become slits. "I'm not one to say this, but this has been one hell of a night boys." Naruto says before dropping the barrier and making the bullets all fall and clatter on the ground. "Now I'm pissed off, my night's ruined, and now I've got to curb stump your asses!"

Naruto blurred out of sight, before appearing behind Samuel, who had little time to form his aura up before being kicked across the nightclub by the furious blonde. The gunmen, three in total, jumped backwards while reloading their weapons only for Naruto to appear in front of them.

The mad blonde spun around, before wind formed around him, and made lose their balance when they contacted the ground. Everything, once again in slow motion Naruto, the blonde appeared above them. Slamming the middle thug to the ground with his knee, before palm striking the other two to the ground as well.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto's appearance reverted to where he was much calmer, before smirking. "Been awhile since someone brought out fifty percent of my power, I congratulate on that, but this little operation of yours ends here…you messed with the wrong guy." Naruto got up, turning around to Samuel who was behind the counter and grabbing some more ammo.

Naruto hissed before dashing in a blur of speed over to him, leaving afterimages as he did, before appearing right in front of the man and crouching on the counter. Samuel tried to load his gun only to have Naruto kick him twice in the face before he could react.

Samuel's aura died out quickly when Naruto launched himself and his foot into the man's face. Samuel yelped out in pain, when Naruto broke stumped on both of his hands and broke them. "S-stop!" Samuel screamed only to get picked up by his shirt collar, and looked right into the blood red eyes of Naruto. "You're a monster."

"No," Naruto calms says, "I'm your worst nightmare filth."

Naruto spun around before throwing Samuel onto his men, before he looked right at Samui who was guarding the door. "Stay back!" She screams, "you don't get do you, The Black Tiger Gang is a rival of Roman Torchwick this is the only way we make money!"

"That's a cruel, dishonorable, and unjust way to make a living." Naruto comments as his eyes went back to their blue, "you should be ashamed of yourself as a woman to even allow filth like him to kidnap your kind."

Naruto got up right into Samui's face, "you disgust me…get…the…fuck…out of my sight." Naruto gripped her throat, "and don't ever…ever return."

The woman nodded, freeing herself, running out the door. The blonde cocked his arm back before smashing down the door, there he saw several women all tied up, some very much awake. Grabbing a piece of broken wood of the door Naruto walked over to the women, cutting their bounds before walking over to a passed out Emerald.

"Thank you, thank you God…thank you." One of the women say as she makes a dash out of the door, "I'll call the Leo!"

Naruto looked at Emerald before cutting her bounds, checking her over to make sure no additional damage was done. Sighing, Naruto picked her up bridal style, before walking out of the room as the other women followed him.

"Don't worry you guys, you're all safe now, go." The women nodded, quickly beelining to the door, and Naruto let Emerald down when he noticed Samuel and his cronies trying to escape.

"Didn't say you could leave, bastard." Naruto slowly walked towards them, making sure his footsteps clacked against the ground.

Samuel turned to see the blonde monster, before whimpering when Naruto stood there. "Leos are on their way, do not move from here." Naruto started to form a Rasenshuriken with his hands, "or I'll blow this entire building up…understand me?"

Nodding, Samuel cowered against the wall, slightly sobbing in fear.

"Good boy."

* * *

Emerald woke up to see her mentor looking over, she jolted upwards, "wh-what happened?!"

"Apparently you got duped, drinking isn't fun for kids when you don't know what could be slipped in." Her mentor told her, "be lucky that Swallow retrieved you from some stupid looking blonde-haired boy…and be lucky that boy is foolishly paragon."

"I…I can't believe I let this happened," Emerald shakes, "how did I get out unharmed?"

"That blonde kid who saved you kicked everyone ass getting to you, you may know him. he was the blonde dancing against you on the floor." Emerald found the source of the voice as Swallow, "which is actually funny that he was drunk while doing so."

"Wait…you were actually unmasked in the club, looking at me…why didn't you stop them?!" Emerald screams at him, "they…they could've…"

"Personally, I didn't bother to do anything since I was there on other benefactor's business," that earned him a glare from Cinder, "but my dear little Rat…I don't think I'd let them go any further than drugging you."

"You sound just like a monster to say that," Cinder states before smirking, "let me know if you start taking up assassinations."

"Heh," Swallow chuckles, "fat chance."

"Well, we'll be happy to know that Roman is jumping for absolute joy since he saw a faunus kick his rivals out." Swallow looked at Cinder before smirking under his mask, before chuckling

"Well, we shouldn't bother the faunus then, if he was strong enough to single handedly take on all of those thugs in there plus two aura users, and get her out…well…he may actually be able to take me on." Swallow states before leaving, "but tell me when is my next job?"

"Not for another two weeks," Cinder says, "but if you can please keep an eye out for the blonde faunus since if he's out hunting criminals…well…you may have that fight."

"Heh, will do." Swallow says as he walks away.

* * *

Ayame was foaming at the mouth, she looked at TV screen with furious eyes. "You had one job Naruto, that was to relax, one job!" She yells over her scroll.

 _"_ _Ayame calm down, I got a major hangover from the sedatives and alcohol."  
_ "O-O-oh no, you're not weaseling your tongue to get you out of this one Uzumaki Naruto! I paid for that hotel, you go have fun, and don't get involved in stupid stuff that could get you killed!"  
 _"But Ayame, I just stopped a slave trade, c'mon! Seriously, besides, this makes the world saver for the girls."  
_ "Yeah…I guess you're right, but by the way, the media doesn't know who you are yet. That footage is really crappy."  
 _"Speaking of knowing me, how's the joys of my life doing?"  
_ "Well…they talked about you last night, and Naruto, you're very lucky. A lot of parents out there would kill for children like yours, kind, loving…not afraid to stand up."  
 _"Heh, well, I love them too much to not teach them the right things."  
_ "Heh, guess you're right…by the way, Aka learned how to make Beggar's Roast Chicken."  
 _"Mmm, my favorite…with Ramen."  
_ "With Ramen."  
 _"Yahoo!"_

Ayame went from pissed to laughing all in the span of five minutes, the children were all doing thing, while Ji and Aoi both were sitting on the floor meditating. Both thinking of their original parents, both, both deep into their mediation.

Slowly, a hum emerged from Aoi as his eyes opened to see that his body's outline was covered in an ice like blue energy. Smiling, he roared out, "I did it!"

Ayame turned to see Aoi standing there, his aura outlines prominent. "Aunt Ayame, tell big brother I'm glowing, I've unlocked my aura!"

"Oh, he hears you, hang on!" Ayame put the scroll on speaker phone.

 _"_ _Aoi…really?"_ Naruto almost sounded sad over the phone, but Ayame knew better, he was more than likely smiling.

"Yeah, all I did was think of everyone, and my will to protect you all. You're all my family, and…and I vow to take up after you big brother. It was a choice I made in my mind, and then everything just seemed to calm down, all of the times I had with my mother and father…I took away the bad things and just focused on the happy times." Aoi explained, before tears leaked from his eyes, "thank you big brother."

 _"_ _Give yourself a pat on the back Aoi, you're the one that made it happen…I love you little brother. How's Ji doing…Aoi."_

Aoi looked stunned as Ji got up, a red aura flowing around him, he smiled as he stood there looking at his older brother. "Tell…big brother I've unlocked mine as well."

 _"_ _Really?!"_

"Yep, you've now got two proud aura using brothers, and Aka and Li are hoping you can teach them next year." Ayame says, while she heard Naruto whimper. "Naruto?"

 _"_ _I'm fine…I'm fine, just wow, so soon…I'm proud of you both so much, I wished someone didn't strong arm me into this vacation…I wanted to see it happen."_

"It's okay big brother, you've done too much for us anyhow…we love you, go have fun old man." Aoi jokes, while smiling and wiping away some tears. "Besides, Gama is getting better."

 _"_ _I knew I could count on you Ayame…thank you big sis."_

"Hey now, I'm only doing what any good person would do, don't forget that." Ayame said as she held the phone up.

 _"_ _You do too much yourself, I may stop by the ramen stand today to get some noodles from your dad. Tomorrow is my last day up here anyhow, and hopefully I won't get into trouble."_

"Please don't," Ayame slightly begs, "you need to know how much your family worries about you."

 _"_ _I know they do, I love them for worrying about me, but I'm a man and I got this because I am thee man."_

"Alright, just get home safe."

* * *

Naruto watched as his scroll hung up, before smiling, and making a mental note to train Aoi and Ji harder when he got back home. They were excellent students to begin with, but now they're prodigal in Naruto's eyes.

It took him months to unlock his aura, it only too them a couple of weeks.

"Well…I better get going," Naruto openly states, "ramen is calling my name."


	9. Chapter 9

Aoi and Ji both jumped, Ji attempting to keep up with Aoi as they ran around the forest with Naruto leading them. "Up!" Naruto called as they jumped into the trees, Naruto catching Ji when the boy was about to miss his branch. "Add a little bit more power."

"Yes brother." Ji complies as they began to jump from one branch of the tree to another, Ji looked over to Aoi who was easily jumping from his hands and feet in a similar fashion to Naruto.

Ji attempted to do the same, but was rewarded when he hit his head into a tree trunk. Naruto motioned for Aoi to stop, going over to Ji who was rubbing his bruised forehead. Chuckling a little bit, "it's going to knock sense into you eventually little brother…so c'mon let's keep going."

Naruto watched as Aoi landed next to Ji, "down," he calls as he leans back and allows himself to fall off the branch.

The duo followed him, before seeing that they landed in a heavily wooded area. They watched as Naruto lightly jogged compared to their full-on sprint, before vaulting the same logs as their dear big brother. They watched Naruto walk kick off two trees, going up into the air, they soon followed.

They were glad their big brother was home from his vacation, even more so when Naruto announced he was going to take a more active role into their training early on. Standing up on the densely wooded branch, Naruto watched as Aoi successfully made the same wall kicks, but watched with a frown as Ji struggled.

"C'mon little brother," Aoi cheers, "c'mon I'll catch ya!"

Ji wall kicked off the tree for the last time before catching Aoi's hand with a resounding clap, both brothers smiled at each other. Naruto whistled, catching their attention, before nudging his head the densely packed treetops.

"I'm going to teach how to silently go through trees, watch me…do it slowly until you pick up speed." Naruto turned around, stretching before bounding.

His bounding was basically him take jumps instead of steps with each foot, and the boys couldn't hear him at all. Aoi and Ji nodded at each other before both took a running start and attempted to keep pace only for each other to catch the other before they fell to the ground.

"Wow, thanks Ji…" Aoi says as he barely regains his balance, "saved my neck."

"No problem big brother," Ji snickers, "you've always been clumsy."

"Hey!" Aoi whines as he watches Ji move ahead of him, "at least I don't cry over girly movie."

"Look here Aoi, Iyo the horse was sad okay!" Ji argues back as they began to travel through the trees and take the occasional jump.

"Gama didn't even cry." Aoi fires back as he lands silently onto another tree.

"Well Gama is five, she can't tell a sad story if she even knew how!" Ji yells in argument.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Aoi argues back, barely making his jump.

"Gah, forget it!" Ji yells before slipping on snow on one of the branches, "Aoi help!"

Aoi barely missed Ji's hand, "little brother!" Aoi screams.

Just then Aoi saw a yellow blur appear under Aoi, catching him in its arms, it was Naruto who had a smile on his face. "Hey, nice of you to drop in loudmouth." Ji looked away huffing before chuckling a little bit, "see now there's a smile."

"Big brother is Ji okay?" Aoi called out in question.

"Oh yeah, he's fine, hey guys we're done with training for today. I've got to go to work tomorrow and need some sleep. However, if fortune holds I'll be off next week as week." Naruto tells them as Aoi jumps down and easily sticks his landing.

"Cool, more training!" Aoi cheers while Ji nods in agreement as he gets let down by Naruto.

"Alright boys before we head in, tell me what you've learned today." Naruto orders them politely as he crosses his arms.

"Always be quick, be nimble, and stealthy." Aoi tells him, and Naruto nods.

"Always know where to step, don't rush, and be thoughtful." Ji says, and receives a nod from Naruto.

"Very good, very good!" Naruto praises them, "now c'mon I'm going to cook us some warm moist ramen."

* * *

Swallow hummed as Snake/Emerald stood next to him, "are you finished yet?" she inquires as he hums while picking a lock.

"Eh," Swallow turns to her, "nope." He then promptly goes back to what he was doing, before he felt the lock click. Opening the door, the duo walked into the room before discovering a room full of experimental dust crystals.

"So, when you said we'd be breaking into a lab you actually meant the head lab of The Schnee Dust Company." Swallow says while looking at the dust crystals and whistled when he found one that he liked. "Oh, my oh my, we've got ourselves a song of wind and fire."

"Hands off," Snake states as she packs it making Swallow fidget a little bit, "this is all going to our benefactor so that he can make more of this stuff."

"You're such a joy kill." Swallow comments as he stretches before peeking into the hallway where all the guards were, "um can I get you all some drinks?"

"Untie us!" One of the guards stated loudly.

"Um, sorry, that's not on the menu." Swallow chimes in before turning to face Snake in the room. "So, we're too good to go?"

"Pretty much," Snake says as she holds the dust in separate bags, "you know I actually find it funny that here we are in our mask and only one of us knows what the other really looks like."

 _"_ _Yeah, you keep on thinking that sweetheart_ ," Swallow mentally chuckled as he walked out of the room. "Funny thing is for being the illustrious Schnee Labs security here sucks."

"Hey!" A guard whined.

"Oh, come on Reginald you're a shitty crack shot and you know it!" A guard argued with a guard named Reginald.

"That's true…" Reginald agrees openly, "but what are they going to do to us."

"Knock you out," Swallow appears in front of Reginald before punching him in the face, "seriously how do you work with this guy?"

"Well…" A guard shyly says, "he's actually got pretty good pockets for drinking money."

"You don't say…" Snake looks at Swallow before diving into his pockets.

Knocking on his mask in frustration, Swallow looked at the other guards, "so tell me is it just me or was this place lightly guarded for a reason?"

"Well, our boss is a cheap bastard." One of the guards says, "he cut my pay in half."

"Why?" Swallow inquired.

"Because apparently you lot got by us at the Atlas prison." Swallow looked at the guard before snapping his fingers and chuckling.

"Oh, I remember you, you were that guard pissing his pants when I blew through the wall!" Swallow loudly proclaims and caused the other guards to laugh.

"Sh-shut u-aah!" everyone stopped laughing when Swallow punched the poor man.

"Sorry guys, but give my regards to Jacques when you see him, and tell him that Swallow says hi." Swallow jokes as he rushes over and starts punching out all the guards.

Clapping his hands together, Swallow chuckles, before looking as Snake pulled out Reginald's wallet…which was barren. "Lying bastards!" She yells as she throws it into the wall, literally.

"Hey that what's you get for being greedy," Swallow chastises her, "now c'mon…this has been a total bummer."

"What you actually like fighting?" Swallow shrugs at her question.

"Eh, so-so, I like a good battle occasionally. Besides that, little mind tricks you do is frigging useful as a pocket knife in a forest, seriously, I got blessed with over bearing power made to crush armies and you get the one thing your careered is based around." Swallow compliments her before she stops him, "what?"

"No." She simply states.

"No, what, no what?!" Swallow argues.

"I don't sleep with coworkers, nor do I sleep with anyone I barely know. So, no, it's not happening, flattery doesn't get you anywhere." She tells him, before he just stands there.

 _"_ _Women…can't compliment them."_ Swallow runs through his head, "I wasn't making a pass."

"Oh really, I've seen you staring." Snake accuses him.

"Oh what, c'mon!" Swallow argues, "I'm guy under this thing my bad! Jeez, how about I just go first in the vent this time oh miss go-getter."

"Ugh, fine, go." She says as she opens the vent before watching him hold out his hand, "what?"

"Dust, hand now, please." Swallow ordered.

"Here," Snake slammed the dust into his palm, "hope you blow up."

"Let's hope not, besides, it was me who took out all the guards." Swallow tells her as he climbs in.

Crawling around in near darkness, Swallow stopped as his scroll came on and played the ringtone Aka had put on it. Snake had to stifle her laughter as he answered, "he-hello?"

 _"_ _What's the status of the mission."  
_ "B.A.S."  
 _"Excuse me?"  
_ "Boring as shit."  
 _"That's rather blunt, but yes, turns around The SDC foolishly have been making cuts into their security over the past couple of months since our little vacation. So we should take this time get back into full swing."  
_ "Oh, and let me guess, more dust robberies?"  
 _"Hey, you said it not me."_

The scroll cut out, before Swallow sighed, before hearing Snake chuckling. "What?"

"All the girls dance in flowers, really, that's like for little kids." Snake says as she struggles to not laugh, "it's just unexpected."

"Yeah, well, eat me." Swallow retorts while she arcs her eyebrow, "What?"

"Really 'eat me' is the best comeback you got," She sighs, "just be lucky I didn't see your ugly mug."

"Oh…really, got any one liners?" Swallow questions as they exit the vent.

Oh, and wouldn't you know it, The Atlas military just so happened to be waiting outside of the vent. All of them pointed rifles, swords and whatever have you at Swallow as he stopped exiting the vent. He sucked his teeth in, "what's going on?"

"I kind of forgot that The Schnee is in bed with Atlas…um, Snake can you back up?"  
"Freeze before I put you on ice!"  
"Ha, that was a good one liner."  
"Permanently…"  
"Sad one liner…Snake back up back up back up!"

Swallow crawled backwards as he bullets and aura charged shots him and Snake were stuck in the vents as they heard the Atlas military fire about. Sighing, Swallow angled himself to sit up in the vent, before looking at Snake.

"So, yeah, apparently this way is no good…Roman."  
 _"Already on it…"  
_ "You're the worse boss."  
 _"Yeah, yeah kiss my ass…alright straight down into the vents leads to the laundry room and there is a sewer drain there as well."  
_ "Roger that, alright, looks I'm taking a bath after all."

"Hey Snake," she looked at him, "ladies first."

Snake looked confused by her body language until she got pushed forward down a vent, and Swallow followed her soon afterwards. They tumbled around for a bit, before they landed in the laundry room, and they both landed on all fours.

Snake looked at Swallow, before shaking her head, "a little bit warning perhaps?"

"Eh, life isn't about warnings or planning it's about moving from experience to the next. Like water flowing around a bend, it's just going to flow, you just got to be like water and bend around situations." Swallow told her as he opened the sewer, "ladies first."

Huffing she jumped down into the sewer, before Swallow soon joined her.

* * *

Walking through the sewer, Swallow followed a map Roman had sent him on his scroll. "So, Em-Snake, quick question…what did you do for the last two weeks?"

"Trained, went out, trained so more…that's about it." Snake said as she put her hands behind her head, having relaxed. "I'm mostly going out to just relieve stress…tea shops mostly."

"So," Swallow looked at her, "you like tea?"

"Have you had Mistralian Wind Tea, it's frigging sweet?" Swallow nodded at her question.

"Of course, I have, I grew up in Mistral…" Swallow stopped himself before talking to more, "but that place was mostly a dump."

"Yeah, I heard about the council there, the banning of emotions unless you're within the capital walls…or elite." Snake hissed a little at the end, "so where did you learn to fight?"

"That's something I can share," Swallow says as they stop to take a breather, "in fact it's my namesake."

"What your real name?"  
"No, my fake name."  
"Oh, Swallow…"  
"Yep, anyway ever heard of the legendary thief Shi-Yan Murasaki."

Snake's eyes widened in her mask, "thee Shi-Yan Murasaki."

"The Purple Swallow herself, and she was an effective master to train under." Swallow said as he sat down, looking at the water stream in the sewer.

"It's said that she was the one to steal one of the four artifacts of The Twins…is it true?" She was very interested in the story.

"Yep, it's also true that she never had any biological children, all of her children were adopted at young ages and trained under her. Some turned to evil, some just lived normal lives, and one followed her ways." Swallow tells her, "the one that followed her ways is rumored to be here in Vale. From what I understand he's trained every day."

"What's his name?" Snake inquires, "maybe I can help track him down."

"No," she looked perturbed by sudden denial, "he's a disciple brother. There's always been one standing rule of The Shi-Yan children, no infighting."

"So, you can never fight each other?" Swallow nodded as he leaned against the wall, listening to her question.

"We're not supposed to, but there's been a couple of disciples that made a habit of going around and killing former disciples themselves. Shi-Yan was a good mother figure, she raised any and all children…even if they'd later betray her." Snake frowned under her mask, "she died heroically however. The ones that betrayed her three of her former disciples before taking me on."

"Who?" Snake sat by him.

"The Ox, The Eagle, and The Dragon. Ox and Eagle were of a much older generation, before I was born. Shi-Yan taught them Soshi younger than me…they had natural talent in it. Dragon on the other hand was a disciple brother of mine." Swallow scrunches his fists up, "he believed that Ox and Dragon could train him better…develop his powers better."

"How old was she when she…you know…died?" Snake questions before watching as Swallow chuckles.

"You're very interested in Shi-Yan…isn't that why you modeled yourself after her naming style? The Snake…it really doesn't suite you." Swallow says as he smirks under his mask, "I personally prefer Mantis, Humming Bird, or Deer. They're mesmerizing animals in their own rights."

"How can I not be interested in Shi-Yan, she was the best of the best, but how old was she?" Snake looked down as she sat by Swallow, "most of us thieves die young."

"She died at the ripe old age of seventy-nine, she died on her birthday." Swallow sighs, "I still remember delivering her cake to her. It took about a three-hour trek from the woods to get to her hidden house in the woods."

"So, whatever happened, how powerful were they?" Swallow sighs at her question.

"Ox has super strength and speed, he's a master of Earth Soshi. Eagle is a master of Wind Soshi and actually taught me a lot of the things I know of today…it's almost funny really since I fought against him and nearly died trying to save Shi-Yan-sama." Swallow speaks with a hint of sadness, "then there's that bastard Dragon." Swallow gripped his hands, "I don't know if my disciple brother…Fox …is still hunting him. However, from I understand Fox grew to take on Shi-Yan's role. Ox and Eagle are strong, but Dragon is on a league of his own. Master of Lightning and Fire Soshi. He's also a master archer, swordsman, and not to mention has a Katachi control that far surpasses someone normal."

"All these, they're in the old language…Sama meaning lord or lady, right?" Swallow nodded, "so you respected her…Shi-Yan that much to call her Lady Shi-Yan?"

"Heh, she is one of the only three women I've ever respected." Swallow told her, "my mother being one…and a…special friend."

"What's her name?"  
"Not telling you, that's a secret, and here's the thing Snake. The more you keep your personal life outside of this life the easier it is to be free from this life and live actual life. That's why I never say my name, I'm just The Swallow here."  
"So…what was the treasure she stole, you know people have fought wars over them right?"  
"It was The Staff of Wukong, a weapon created for a monkey faunus of old that fought in the first crusades against The Grimm. It's especially powerful in the hands of a warrior with a pure heart, for darkness just weakens the staff."  
"You've trained with it!"  
"Yes, and I'm not actually half bad with it. Shi-Yan-sama however, she was a true master."  
"So why did you take the moniker Swallow?"  
"Because, when one of the family passes away we take their name in their honor. Fox chose to keep Fox, Dragon of course chose to keep Dragon…like the bastard had a choice…and my little disciple sister kept the moniker Dragonfly."  
"How many monikers are there?"  
"Twelve…Ox, Dragonfly, Dragon, Fox, Eagle, Dolphin, Slug, Toad, Viper, Swallow, and finally Monkey."  
"And, that's it, there was only twelve?"  
"Four generations, but there was a thirteenth moniker, that was Hummingbird. When Shi-Yan died I took her moniker so that I could make those that hurt believe she was still about, I was formerly Hummingbird."  
"She had a convoluted system."  
"It kept us alive, it kept us save, because in four generations there was three members that Shi-Yan taught at a time. So, all you would have to do is wear the mask and if someone trained under her they'd recognized you…"  
"Do you still have The Hummingbird Mask?"

"I treasure it like it's a newborn child." Swallow says as he gets up, "enough talking c'mon."

"You're right…hey, by the way quick question for you…why did you let that blonde hair guy save me?" Snake asked.

"I wanted to see if he was Fox, but turns out he wasn't." Swallow answers, "he's really powerful though…plus stupid."

"So, you think he shouldn't have saved me?" Snake inquires.

"I think he should've walked away, but I think he's the hero type." Swallow tells her, before they begin walking down the tunnel.


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto woke up, looking around, he sighed once he found Gama back in the bed again. Smiling, he merely picked her up and took her back to her room as usual. Walking her into the room Naruto came upon Aka and Li who were awake. They were both reading different books, with Li looking at books about cooking and Aka reading about weapon forging.

"When did Gama climb out of bed?" Naruto asks the girls as he placed Gama down, "she should still be resting."

"She just missed you so we let her go in, how are you, big brother?" Li inquires as she reads her book, "oh could we get some fresh chicken I want to try to make us all Beggar's Roast Chicken."

"Maybe…" Naruto tells her, "I do have to go grocery shopping anyway."

"Yay!" Li cheers as she bounces and tackles Naruto in a hug, "thank-thank you, I promise it'll be super declivous!"

Naruto patted Li's head, chuckling, "you've always cooked good food Li. Now I've got to go wake up your brothers, maybe you could make them breakfast while I'm out."

* * *

The blonde sighed as he looked at Aoi and Ji, "alright guys I'll be gone for about half the day getting the groceries, hold it down like you usually do. If something happens call me, I'll be here in a heartbeat alright?"

Aoi and ji nodded, before watching their big brother walk out.

Naruto slowly walked, before coming onto a small dirt path that he had built, he was still going to work on building a steam down towards his house so they could work on a farmland possibly being made for next summer.

He carried on his shoulders a very spacious pack made, but what was interesting was inside of the left webbed pocket of the pack, which was incense sticks. They jingled about in the pocket, before Naruto came to a stop and walked towards a pile of rocks by a tall oak tree.

There, by the pile of rocks was a small wooden shrine, and on a small rock tablet inside of the shrine was inscribed in the old language Shi-Yan(世炎) and there he knelt before smiling warmly. He got out the incense and a match and lit them as he placed them in a small sand filled cup.

"Where Fox seeks the comfort of its burrow it's watched by the ever-soaring Swallow, in times of sorrow she will give him song, in times of hunger she will give him worms for him to not starve, and in times of desperate she will teach him how to climb the tree she flies too." Naruto clapped his hands together, "and in turn the Fox will learn to become the Swallow, and soar beyond what he ever thought possible.'

"Mother of poor, sister of night, let me sing your praise tonight." Naruto says as he puts down a single coin onto the shrine, "take my patronage and guide me until the next sunlight."

Naruto got up, before bowing, smiling as he began to walk away. He didn't the notice the red leaf fall on top of the coin as he left, before another yellow fell on top of it.

* * *

Vale's markets were always a busy place, Naruto made his way through the crowd of people, whistling all the while. This is where Ayame's ramen stand was as well so he may pay a visit there when he got the chance, but for now he was focused on what he came for.

Walking over to stand selling fruits and vegetables Naruto bowed in respect to the elderly man owning the stall. "Verdant, good morning." Naruto said as he raised from the bow, the old man did the same.

"Ah, little Fox, how have you been?" Verdant greeted him with a warm smile, "here to pick up some of my homegrown fruits?"

"Hehe, well, yeah. Luckily, it's cold outside so they'll preserve quite nice as well. Ji and Aoi like oranges so can you give me two dozen?"

Verdant nodded, picking up two dozen packed oranges, before watching Naruto get his backpack on the table. He placed them inside the pack as he waddled over to where Naruto was standing. "Um, three honeydews, three bags of grapes."

"I'll make sure to put the grabs in last, wouldn't want to smash them…or are you trying to make them _whine_ eh..eh?" Naruto laughed at the pun before calming down, "I still can make you smile after these three years."

"Since when couldn't you, I used to live here before getting that nice o'l shed in the woods. Speaking of…" Naruto got out his scroll and showed the man a picture of it, "I've done a lot of work to it."

"Oh, my you have, you have, wow. Remind me to call you up when I actually build a shop." Verdant praises Naruto as he walks with the teen, "I'm going take a guess…you want to get some lemons and lime?"

Naruto nodded, and watched man pack him some, "and can I get some dates? Gama really likes them, and onions for Dukang…for some reason he likes to eat raw onions."

Naruto watched as the old man bagged the groceries into his backpack before he walked over and pointed at some watermelons for Aka. "Oh, and old man Verdant you wouldn't have any tea leafs would?"

"Oh, I got a fresh shipment in this morning, what would you like?" Verdant inquires as they walk over to the tea leafs, before Naruto stopped as his ears twitched.

 _"_ _Help!"_

"Hey old man, I'll be right back." Naruto tells him before running to the source of the noise, the old man nodded, ringing up Naruto's items before smiling as he snuck in several different kinds of tea leafs into his back.

 _"_ _I owe you one still,"_ Verdant chuckles, _"not many would've stepped up to save a drowning old man in Grimm invested waters."_

* * *

Naruto came upon a robbery, which was happening to a girl surrounded by three men. "Stop struggling baby, jeez, what's in there that's so important."

"It's not what's in there," they turned to see Naruto tapping his shoulders, "it's what she ordered you to do in the first place…hands off fellas."

"Oi, boss look, it's a furry bastard!" One of the men, a pudgy guy, called out pointing to Naruto.

The boss, a rather slender built man holding the girl tossed her to the ground, where she still clutched her bag. Naruto took notice of her, she had a rabbit's tail, and was tan in complexion. The blonde sighed looking at her before looking back at the men, "so which one of you racist cowards wants some?"

"I'll take a piece bastard!" The third guy, a muscular man states as he swings wildly at Naruto who easily kicks the punch away.

Naruto followed the momentum by leaving the ground and delivering an axe kick into the man's face which sent him to the ground. The blonde dodged the pudgy man as he swung at him with a rather large blade, before Naruto caught it in between his palms.

Twisting his palms, the man's sword clattered out of his hands, before he could react Naruto's right fist jabbed him three consecutive times in the face. Throwing his left hand in a haymaker attempt, Naruto merely caught it and threw the man over his shoulder and to the ground.

Spinning around with his arms up in the air, the blonde's staff slid from under his shirt and into his palm. He expanded it out, before twirling it about, and smile as he waived free hand in an inviting matter. "Care for dance skinny, or are you going to let the girl go and save yourself a broken jaw?"

"Raaaghh!" The slender man screamed as he ran at Naruto with a cleaver, "die faunus freak!"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto merely grabbed his staff like a bat and smashed it across the guys face…breaking his jaw. The blonde brushed his staff off, before decreasing its size to that of a small scroll and sliding it back under his clothing.

"See," Naruto crouched down before rubbing the man's hair as he barely mumbled in pain, "that's what'cha get for not listenin."

Naruto felt a presence behind him, and turned to grab two arms of the formerly two men from before. The blonde spun about, before having both in an arm breaker hold. He smashed his foot into the both of their backs, which made them kneel.

"Oi, miss." She looked up at Naruto from the ground, "how many times did they threaten you."

"I-I lost count." She stutters, it was rather cute, "why?"

"Heh," Naruto held their arms under his elbow as he slid his staff out and spun it around in his left hand.

The two men looked at each other before they screamed out as Naruto smashed the staff onto the buttocks, as if he was spanking an unruly child. "Your-mothers-should-be-ashamed-of-themselves-for-allowing-you-to-hurt-innocent-little-girls!" Naruto yells as he spanks them hard enough for loud slaps to be heard around the small gathering of the crowd.

The crowd themselves were laughing a little at the would-be robber's peculiar situation.

"Say you're sorry!" Naruto orders them.

"We're sorry miss faunus, we're sorry mister faunas!" The screamed as Naruto lets them go, "please don't kill us!"

They crawled away, scrambling only to get tackled by police soon afterwards. The man whose jaw was broken attempted to get away as well, only for Naruto to come up from behind him and smirk. "Going somewhere sweetheart?" The man turned around only to get blasted with a nonfatal amount of wind that sent towards the police.

The police looked at Naruto, nodding, before they took the assailants into custody. The blonde spun the staff around before reshrinking it and sliding it back under his shirt. Walking over to the girl, who could be no younger than thirteen, he offered his hand out.

"Th-thank you." She says as she is helped up, in her bag was nothing but books and photo albums from Naruto could tell.

"Not a problem, where's your parents at, they shouldn't let you wonder alone." Naruto tells her as he looks around for more rabbit faunus, "jeez so neglectful nowadays."

"Um…sir…I'm not with my parents, I was here with my sister who got dragged off by one of her friends." She mutters lowly, "I'm sorry to be a bother."

"Oi, don't sweat it, c'mon walk with me we'll run into her and her friend eventually. By the way, like the bow on your head it's kind of cute." Naruto compliments her, "my little sister likes wearing bows."

"Oh," the girl looks at him as they walk back towards Verdant's vending stand, "what's her name?"

"Li," Naruto tells her, "and I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Mr. Uzumaki thank you," she bows while clutching her bag, "my names Rosie Scarlatina."

"That's a pretty name, so what's your sister's name and her friends?" Naruto inquired as they made it back to Verdant's, and he turned to see more than what he ordered of tea leaves inside of backpack, "Verdant…"

"No kid, don't Verdant me, ya just keep being ya and doing good stuff. Oh, hey there missy, would you like an apple?" Verdant inquires as he tells Naruto not to worry about the extra items, "it's freshly delivered from Mistral."

"Please," she speaks while nodding and watched as Verdant grabs the apple and hands it out to her, "thank you."

She takes the apple, smiling a little, before taking a bite out of it.

"So, I guess I'm done here for today Verdant, what's my total." Naruto questions the old man with a smile on his face as he hefts the backpack up over his shoulder.

"Four hundred and fifty Liens." Verdant tells him, "and not penny less or more."

Naruto nods and hands the man his scroll to which Verdant scans with his own scroll and transfers the funds. "Pleasure doing business with you Verdant, I'm going to make sure to make Gama some licorice tea and maybe some Wind Runner to help boost her immune system."

"Ha-ha, good one Naruto, are you heading to see Hiro next at the meat stand?" Naruto nods, before watching Verdant pick out an orange, "give this to him it's a gift."

"Alright," Naruto takes the orange in hand, before walking over to where Hiro was and Rosie closely following him still chewing on the apple.

"So, Rosie, you seem like a country gal, what brings you to a big city?" Naruto inquires as he puts both hands around the straps of his backpack.

"My sister…she's a student at Beacon…oh no! I forgot to tell you their names, I'm so sorry!" She says in a panic, "my sis's name is Velvet, and her friend's is Coco."

"Ah," Naruto smiles, "you must be a Huntress in training yourself."

"Yes, but I'm not very good." Rosie tells him, "I'm actually pathetic really…I can't even use aura."

"Hey now, I used to know a great friend of mine from a long time ago that couldn't use aura. He was a human, but man his heart was that of a faunus. He was strong, very strong, perhaps the reason why he couldn't manifest aura was because it's his semblance eating all the way." Naruto tells her with a smile, "he was like brother to me, but…we lost contact after a fateful night."

"Grimm?" She inquires.

"You could say that," Naruto sighs, "you hungry?"

She nods, "I'm a little hungry…my sis was supposed to feed me before getting dragged off."

"Rosie!" Naruto suddenly hears, before turning around and seeing a tall brown-haired bunny eared faunus running towards them, "Rosie oh thank the stars!"

"Big sis!" Rosie calls out, "what's wrong!"

"I heard there was a robbery attempt and I came running as fast as I could to get away from Coco. You okay, did anyone hurt you?!" Velvet looked over her sister before looking at the fox eared faunus in front of her, "whose he?"

"He's a friend, he saved me from the robbers, his name is Naruto!" The blonde flashed Velvet a peace sign when Rosie told her his name.

"Oh, thank you sir, I know it seems very irresponsible of me to leave my sis…but I told her to stay put at the vegetable stand." Velvet rubs the back of her head, "sorry if she caused you any trouble."

"Eh-eh," Naruto waived his hand, "ain't nothing to it. Verdant is absentminded sometimes and he lets things slip past him. Anyway, I'm heading to a noodle stand if you all want to join me, I sort of promise Rosie here something to eat."

"Honka, honka, what do we have here!" Everyone turned to a brown tanned skin human teen who was wearing rather expensive clothing and a pair of aviators, "Velvet when were you going to show us your boyfriend."

"Eh?!" The trio faunus scream out in confusion.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight…tall, blonde, and handsome foxy here isn't your boyfriend."  
"No Coco, he's just someone that helped my sister."  
"Oh, I see, Rosie says you literally whooped them…is that true?"

Naruto finished sipping on his tea, smiling a little. "Spanked them like their mommas should have."

Coco laughed hard at the blonde's words, before resting on her elbow, "so…are you doing anything later?"

"Um, yeah, I'm cooking at my house later." Naruto scratches his chin, "but trust me I'm a horrible cook."

 _"_ _Screw the cooking, I'd rather have the desert."_ Coco licked her lips as she looks at Naruto while him and Rosie start a conversation on cooking, and Velvet looked over to her, "what?"

They begin to whisper.

"You know what."  
"Oh c'mon, are you honestly going to sit there and tell me that he's not the hottest faunus ever!"  
"I…I…didn't say that, I just think it's highly inappropriate to act like that around my sister."  
"Coco likes, Coco wants, and Coco gets."  
"Not this time, not the last time, and not all the time."  
"Buzzkill, sheesh, anyway looks like our knight in shining yellow is done conversing with the little kid."

"Ayame!" Naruto smiles as he sees his friend walked towards his table, she stopped blinking a little before looking at the table of girls. "Ayame…?"

"My God it's a miracle, you're actually dating!" Naruto eyes bugged out, "and which one is it!"

"None, none of them! Look, it's a long story, I'm just coming into the market to buy groceries for the kids and was going to go home and make dinner." Naruto tells her, "but I ran into a snafu along the way."

Ayame sighed, _"I knew it looked too good to be true! Damn it!"_

Ayame looked at them, smiling, "I hope Naruto here isn't being too shy around you all. He rarely gets around girls his age, with the kids and all."

Coco and Velvet stopped while Rosie looked at Naruto.

 _"_ _K-k-kids!"_ Coco screams, _"He's already got kids!"  
"Well…us faunus do have our children younger than humans…um…well…this is awkward." _Velvet twiddled her thumbs around.

"Heh, Ji and Aoi are doing fine. I just started their training regime last week." Naruto sips on his tea, "and there my two best and finest prodigies."

 _"_ _What?!"_ Coco and Velvet screamed in their heads, _"just old was he when he got someone pregnant!"_

"Well I hope you're taking care of them, in a lot of ways you're like a father more than a big brother. Sheesh, you should go out more like this though, remember our talk?" Ayame wiggled her eyebrows at him, making rub the back of his head.

"Would it make you made to let you know that the reason why I'm sitting is because I ended up doing more hero stuff." Naruto chuckles, "Ayame put everything on my tab."

"Gah, fine…but we're seriously going to talk about how you need to just lay low…" Ayame mutters as she walks off about a certain troublesome blonde.

"S-so, you've got brothers and sisters…that's cool." Velvet shyly says as she twiddles her thumbs.

"Yeah, I have six in total, but two call me papa." Naruto didn't expect them to both lurch forward and aim away as they spat out their tea.

Rosie pinched her nose, while Velvet and Coco began to barrage Naruto with a bunch of questions.

* * *

"Oh, so that's how she knows about you!"  
"Yeah, she's been a good friend for the last three years."  
"Wow…you're pretty frigging awesome ya know that."  
"Well…thanks I guess."  
"No problem."

Naruto and Coco were talking as Velvet and Rosie were playing on a prize machine involving a claw crane and such. "So, quick question for you then Mr. Handsome…are you truly single?"

"Well, yeah, why?" Naruto asks before he sees Coco write her number down, but as she slid towards him he stopped her. "No."

"Huh…wh-why not?" Coco asks, "I'm sorry if I was little forward."

"No, you're fine, it's just between what I do for a living and raising six young kits I don't really have the time to date." Naruto tells her, "it's not that I don't appreciate it though. Besides, you're a really good person yourself."

"I guess you're right…well…I guess I better grab Velvet and Rosie and skedaddle. It was nice meeting you though, maybe…we'll see each other again?" Naruto nods and gives a thumb's up.

"Sure, no problem, I just hope it's under better circumstances." Coco nods before walking over to her friends.

Naruto sits there, alone, before sighing. _"Well…I better get this chicken…I'm already late."_


	11. Chapter 11

Swallow lifted his mask up to drink some hot tea he made, he lifted to the point where someone could see his lips but that was about it, everyone was gathering around the table. Sighing he took a seat before sitting in his chair, before looking at everyone.

"So, what's our mission this time?" Swallow inquired as he propped his feet up.

'Ah, funny you should ask Mr. Swallow, we're actually being called by Cinder's benefactor. We've got reports that The White Fang are recently encroaching on an ancient site. Inside this site is rumored to be an artifact that is high in concentrated aura. You two, Emerald A.K.A Snake and you…Swallow are you to move in ahead of them and snatch the artifact." Roman tapped his cane as he got up, "your pay Swallow for this will be fifty thousand Liens, not a penny less."

"Heh," Swallow chuckled, "so what forces should we be expecting here? Does Beacon Academy by chance know of the artifact?"

"Hmm, perhaps." Cinder reasons as she slightly rubs her chin, "are you suddenly afraid of a bunch of children?"

"I'm not afraid of the children, but if this artifact is as powerful as you're letting on then we could expect someone like…say…Glynda Goodwitch." Swallow cracked his knuckles, "and she's not exactly weak."

"Well informed, are we?" Cinder questions.

"Lucky assumption…but a logical one nonetheless." Swallow replies with a smirk under his mask, "so when do we leave out?"

"Tomorrow morning." Cinder tells him, and he gets up and then begins stretching.

"I'm going to go ahead and take time to find a place to nap, I'll see you all in the morning."

* * *

Naruto was walking the busy streets of Vale as he looked around at the happy couples walking by him, _"why is it that I feel alone…I don't get it."_ Naruto mused as he walked, before sighing, _"When I was Hummingbird I used to believe that I'd find a place for education and stay in it…maybe become a Hunter. However, I've become Swallow…and I need to take that with me in pride."_

Slowly stopping, Naruto sighs before feeling something land on his hand, it was a ladybug. Smiling, Naruto gently cupped the ladybug before chuckling. "You're a little far from home aren't ya?" Naruto asks the creature as if it would talk back to him, "hang on I'm going to get you to a nice little potted plant somewhere."

Walking around the block, Naruto came across a bookstore that was still open even this late at night, before seeing that it had potted plants out at its front. He walked over to the one with sunflowers before gently placing the ladybug down. "You're interesting ya know…not many ladybugs come out in this cold." Naruto chuckles before turning back around only to bump into someone.

"Ouch, what the hell man, watch it!" A female's voice fills his ears, a familiar one at that.

He looked up, he was met with mint green hair, dark red eyes. It was Emerald, she was about to tell him off until she looked right at him, "are you blind…or…something." Both just stared at each other, before Emerald realized he was the blonde at the party.

"Um…hi…" Naruto waived shyly as he straightened himself up, "do I know you?"

Naruto and Emerald just stared at each other, this was the first time they met without the masks since the party, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to just tell her off in return like he normally would. "You…you look familiar, I think we've met before, were you at a party just a month ago?"

"Huh, what do you mean?" Naruto veins ignorance as he rubs the back of his head, "did I hit your head or something lady?"

"N-no, I…you just look very familiar is all. Um, excuse me." Naruto went to step to the side but she accidentally stepped to the same side, "oh sorry…uh…"

They did this dance for a minute or two, before both sighed, "okay I'm going to step to the left and let you by." Naruto told her as he stepped to the left, "and here we go."

Emerald walked past him, before turning around, giving him second look over. "No, I do know you!" She says walking back up to him, "you were at the club that one night…where that fight went down. You…you were doing such stupid goofy dances and I was dance battling against you!"

 _"_ _Shit,"_ Naruto looks away, "Um…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look…I just wanted to say thank you." Naruto eyes snapped to Emerald, she never said thank you once not even to Cinder. "You…you didn't have any business risking your life and all. Seriously, thank you."

"I…I accept your gratitude…" Naruto mumbles before both looked at each other, "um so what's your name?"

"Emerald, Emerald Sustrai." She stuck out her hand, "do you shake hands…um…"

 _"_ _Fake name time!"_ Naruto took her hand and shook it, "Uzumaki Naruto, ( _the hell brain?!)"_

A chibi Naruto inside of Naruto's head was busy beating up a chibi rendering of his brain as the blonde's right eye twitched, before he sighed. "I should really get going, I've got to be up early in the morning." Naruto tells her, before looking right back into her eyes.

Since when did dark red look beautiful?

"You look tired…" She mumbles before Naruto focused back onto her in general, "there's a tea shop just up the road…if you like tea."

"Thanks, but…I…I." Naruto struggled to pull the words from his head and into his mouth…but words from somewhere else took their place. "I guess, I guess I could stand you a cup of tea."

* * *

Naruto was seated across from Emerald as he sipped on his hot tea, before giving a hearty sigh. "This probably some of best Wind Runner Tea I've tasted in quite a while."

"Well, this place is actually pretty renowned for its tea, the people that owned it are from Vacuo and they pretty much brought their own recipes from different cultures and mixed them." Emerald tells him as she sips on her tea, "so are you from Vale?"

"No, I'm from Mistral, but I moved to Vale just recently." Naruto tells her while white lying a little bit, before he took another sip of the tea.

"I hope I wasn't bothering you too much asking you to tea." Emerald said as she looked at him, noting his blue eyes and soft face.

"It's not a problem, to tell you the truth I've been tensed lately so I really needed some good brew." Naruto told her, before letting a smile crack over his face. "So, what do you do?"

"I mostly do random odd jobs for a living, you?"  
"I work as a freelancer Hunter, basically I take random bottom of the barrel jobs no one wants. Like clearing out Beowulfs from sewers and such."  
"That's got to be a smelly situation."

"Tell me about it, I mean, just last night I took a job to go into the sewers again and clear another nest out. I keep telling them that an iron bar link at one of the drains would stop the problem but no-o-o-o…the big wigs just want to cut costs wherever and whenever." Naruto lies as he sips his tea, "but why bother thanking me?"

"I…just felt like thanking you for saving my life." Emerald told him, looking away a little bit before blushing.

"Heh," Naruto chuckles, "sorry if I seem rude. I've just been really tired lately, bills got me into a bind and all."

"It's the struggle, it's real as the night sky." Emerald quips as she faces him again, "but I have another question…why go back in and save us?"

"I don't like people that think they can run things with an iron fist and down whatever they please." Naruto said as he finished his tea, "well Ms. Sustrai it's been a pleasure."

"Likewise, um…is there any chance I could talk to you again?" She asked, before Naruto turned her and smiled.

"Sorry," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not looking right now."

"No, wait I didn't mean like that!" Emerald slightly yells, "I meant as friends…you know, just friendly chats and all."

Naruto looked at her, before his eyes darted back and forth. _"If I say no I'm an asshole…but if I say yes…then what?"_ Naruto tried to speak a couple of times, before smiling. "Sure, why not, I can't really give you my scroll number and I left it back in my hotel room so I can't read you off the number. However, I should be back in Vale in three days at the market districts…like the lower end market districts."

"Oh, cool…I guess I'll see you then?" She asks.

"Sure," Naruto smiles…and it was a genuine smile, "I'll see you then."

* * *

Swallow walked besides Snake as they came upon a large ancient temple complex, they were deep past the mountains Vale and into uncharted territory. Slowly walking, the duo made their way past a giant oak tree before taking a minute to rest.

"So that big temple right there houses the object of our desire…Snake." Snake shook her head, before looking at Swallow and shrugging.

"It's where Cinder got when she typed in the coordinates, so this has to be it. Strangest thing though, this big temple looks like a large village that got abandoned. Judging by the way it looks it has well been abandoned way before we were born…let alone Cinder." Snake tells him, but watches as he just relaxes against a tree.

"It is intriguing," Swallow agrees, "but we're on a schedule here. If the Fang ain't here yet they will be. Their leaders are anything but lazy."

Snake sighs as she watches him get up, before they begin to walk once more. "If I can ask…why do you choose this life?"

She looked at him, before scuffing slightly, "what's it to you?"

"You seem smart, you're actually very intelligent for a girl your age. Your skills are superb, you're quick and agile, you could've easily fought your way into a prestigious academy." Swallow tells her while praising her, "in all honesty you've got a lot of potential to become better than Shi-Yan-sama."

"Well…thanks, but honestly old man you're not exactly half bad yourself…why didn't you just go and join a school?" Swallow shrugged at her question, before stopped.

"Something's not right," Swallow mutters and notices footprints on the ground, "there are tracks here, but they end here."

Snake looked around, before noticing something in the bushes, she walks over and gets her kusarigamas ready and flips them around her hands to get the feeling. Snow scrunched under her combat boots, before her eyes widened behind her mask when she pulled the bushes back.

There was a White Fang member in the bushes, barely alive. "H-help me."

Swallow quickly jogged over to where Snake was, "you there, what happened?"

"There was this stranger, he was all dressed in black…he killed my entire squad. Wait…you two aren't brothers and sisters…who the hell are you!" The Fang member attempted to crawl away, "help, intruders!"

"Stop!" Swallow yells, "we're…from the Fang's special Ghost Unit. We've got sent here by Adam to investigate your squad's disappearance."

Snake looked at him, _"he knows about The Faunus's current split?"_

"O-oh, re-really…can you take off your mask and prove it?!" The soldier yelled, before Swallow looked at Snake.

"You heard the guy, take off your mask." Swallow smirked under the mask before walking towards the man and knelt onto one knee.

"Brother from when the moon calls the wolves shall chase the humans, and from when the sun rises the wolves shall rest." The fang member's eyes widened as his lion like tail curled around his stomach, "but when the moon comes back we're ghosts in the night."

"Th-that's the Ghost's prayer." The fang member states, "you're legit…only members know it…or at least families of the members."

"You can call me Swallow, you can call her Snake, now what are you after and what happened?" Swallow questions him as he crosses his arms over his knee.

"My squad, about twelve of us in total, some of us the best in our company were scouting out the temple complex when we came under assault. It had to be more than a dozen other people, and the strangest thing was that they used fire and wind semblances…and that was it. It's probably some overpowered inbred mongrels." The fang member hisses as he attempts to stand up, "but there was one that wore a mask like what you're wearing."

Swallow looked right at the guy, "what kind of mask?"

"Dragon," The Fang member states, "it was a Dragon."

Swallow's hands scrunched up before he looked up at the temple, "was he heading towards the temple?"

"Y-yes, we were after an artifact that was stated by our benefactor to give the ability to look upon someone's very soul and see who they really are." The fang member states, "Adam wants it to see if Lord Ghira is truly loyal to The Fang…to find any dissidents."

Swallow nods, before reaching into his pocket and taking out a pellet. "This here will refill your aura and give you an energy boost…get out."

The young member took it, taking off his own mask, and swallowing the pill. "Th-thank you."

The fang member got up, before looking at them, "stay save brother and sister!"

The member took off running, however, no sooner than he made it thirty feet away Swallow watched as an arrow came soaring into the back of the Fang Member's skull, killing him instantly. Swallow grabbed Snake and tossed her into the bushes, "stay hidden!"

 _"_ _I know you two are there still, there is no sense in hiding."_ A voice states from all around them, _"The Cult is very interested in the eye, The Fang has no business being in The Bad Lands anyway…many people die out here."_

Snake looked over at Swallow, "is that him?"

"Yes, he's using his semblance to create illusionary copies of himself to make his presence unknown. He's more than likely a good half a mile ahead of us in some tree…waiting for us to move. His clones on the other hand are in the trees and trying to make us think he's near…" Swallow crawled towards a second bush, "it's his way of hunting."

Swallow opened up his left palm, before forming a Rasengan in it as his eyes turned red, "but I've got an idea…get ready to run."

Snake nodded, watching as Swallow got up and dashed to the side. She watched as several arrows came from behind him, "behind you!" she yells, and he turns on his heel to avoid them.

* * *

Inside of a tree, a tall male figure with a dragon mask holding a bow watched as the two he was hunting for suddenly emerged, one with a Snake mask ran towards the temple as one with a Swallow mask turned around…revealing, "Naruto…"

Dragon watched as a Rasenshuriken formed before being launched at his location, before he lifted his mask up and inhaled a bunch of air. _"Fireball!"_ Dragon mentally screams as he blasts the Rasenshuriken away in a wave of fire.

The result was a massive explosion of wind and fire, before he saw through it that Swallow/Naruto was gone and his companion. His clones dropped around his tree as he exited the tree before fusing back into him. He removed his mask, having a dark smile on his face.

His onyx eyes stared at where the body of the Fang member was, slowly walking over to him he pointed his palm at the dead body before it engulfed in flames. His dark hair waived in the wind, before he chuckles. "So, Shi-Yan's prodigy lives…how unfortunate that I get to fight you against you sworn brother."

Dragon put his mask back on before he jumped into the trees.

Swallow ran next to Snake as they dashed through the trees, "what the hell was that!"

"The was Dragon's Fireball, it's one of his many moves. He knows that it's me since I used my attack against him, but he doesn't know about you much." Swallow tells her, before turning and skidding to a stop. "He's still fast…"

In front of them was Dragon, who had his arms crossed under his black cloak. "Long time no see Hummingbird, or should I say Swallow now?"

"Why are you here Dragon!" Swallow yells, "the cult didn't take interest in artifacts…why now?"

"I've merely come for an errand, but running into you was an actual delight. I'll give you one chance to turn around and walk away from this. For old time's sake, or else I just may have to kill your friend there." He points his sword right at Snake only for Swallow to step in front of her.

"You'll have to go through me first, Sasuke." Swallow calls Dragon by his real name, before Dragon/Sasuke chuckled.

"Oh, so we're on an actual name basis N-aah!" Dragon was blasted back by a gust of wind from Swallow's palm and Swallow turned to Snake.

"Do not be afraid, he's alone, otherwise Ox and Eagle would've been here by now. Go to the temple, get the thing, and get going…I'll join up with you soon." Snake nodded, before turning back around, "what?"

"Just…don't die, I don't think I'll make it back on my own." Snake tells him, before he chuckles.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on dying today." Snake nods before dashing off, and leaving Swallow and Dragon to face down each other.

"How cute, got a crush Naruto?" Sasuke calls as he drops in front of him, "I'll definitely make sure to kill her."

"You lay one finger on her Sasuke and I promise you I'll remove those eyes you cherish so much." Naruto hisses as he takes off his mask once he knew Snake was away before putting it into his pack and tossing it to the side.

"Heh," Sasuke takes off his mask before tossing it over to a tree, "it's going to be a shame to eliminate you like I did Sakura and Shi-Yan."

"Leave both out of your mouth cur." Naruto hisses as he drops down into a fighting stance, his red eyes blazing.

Sasuke smirked as his changed to where they were red, but very different from Naruto's. Sasuke held his sword out, before both stared at each other, they both saw a squirrel drop an acorn…and then looked back at each other.

When the acorn made a small scrunching sound in the snow from falling, both Naruto and Sasuke leaped at each other. Naruto pulling a kunai knife from his right pocket before blocking Sasuke's sword and kicking him away.

Sasuke landed and skidded on the ground, before chuckling. "Fireball!" Naruto's eyes widened as the flame engulfed his entire viewpoint before he dashed behind a rock as the flames flowed over him. Sasuke appeared in front of him, but Naruto could sidestep him as the flames died down and smashed Sasuke through the rock with a well time kick.

Sasuke's fell into the snow, before both looked at each other and took a fighting stance. Naruto and Sasuke circled around each other, before they both leaped at each other. Each one had their fists cocked back.

"Naruto/Sasuke!" Naruto and Sasuke scream at each other as they both smashed each other in the face.


	12. Chapter 12

Explosions rang throughout the forest as Sasuke and Naruto launched Fireballs and Rasenshuriken at each other. Both dashed and kicked each other before blurring out in a burst of speed and crossing knives against each other.

Naruto had a gash over his cheek, while Sasuke had a bruise across his face and a cut on his lip. "Both of aura is equally matched, you've improved much, Uzumaki!" Sasuke praised as he pushed Naruto back, "even if my aura and your aura can't block each other…I will still land the fatal blow and sever all ties I had with Shi-Yan, with you, with everyone!"

"You're just a small-minded bastard who thought joining the cult was better than learning power on your own!" Naruto pushed him back before forming a Rasengan in his free hand and blasting Sasuke backwards. "And, I'll make sure you pay for what you did Shi-Yan-sama and Sakura!"

Sasuke held his arms out in an inviting manner, "go on…feel free!"

Naruto threw the knife at Sasuke who deflected it with a kick, only for Naruto to appear behind him, and smash him with knee across his back. The blonde flipped backwards afterwards before forming a Rasenshuriken and throwing it at Sasuke who merely pointed his hands out at it. "Kirin!"

A red eyed beast made of lightning formed, before colliding with the blast, and a small explosion emanated from it.

Snake was near the temple when she heard the explosion, looking at the wall of light that emerged from the forest, _"what kind of monsters did Shi-Yan create?"_

Lightning crackled around the area as Sasuke hands crackled with electricity, Naruto was nowhere to be found as he looked around, before he smirked. "Running away?"

"No," Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked above him to see Naruto coming in with a Rasengan about the size of a beach ball in right hand, "coming down!"

Naruto smashed into the ground as Sasuke leaped away, before he watched Sasuke send a wave of lightning his way. Forming an energy barrier Naruto blocked the lightning before forming a small Rasengan and throwing it at Sasuke, it then formed into a Rasenshuriken before Sasuke for first to blow fire onto it and disarm it.

Naruto appeared above him, smashing him into the ground with a kick, before landing on top of him. He grabbed a knife, holding it at his throat, "it's over Sasuke!"

"Heh," Sasuke chuckles before Naruto's eyes widened as lightning crackled around Sasuke and began to electrocute him.

Naruto fell off Sasuke, before rolling away as Sasuke got up, he then heard what sounded like a thousand birds chirping at once. "Chidori!" Naruto eyes widened as he formed a Rasengan and smashed it against Sasuke's hand that was covered in lightning.

"Not bad Naruto…" Sasuke growls as he smiles, "but your aura reserves have to be low by now and you're not a master at absorbing aura from nature like I am."

"You stole that technique from Shi-Yan, how dare you say you mastered it!" Naruto yells in his face, "I've waited for this day Sasuke for the last four years! Now I can cut you down for what you did to our family!"

"A family of weaklings," the lightning grew around Sasuke's hand as an orange-like eyeliner appeared around his eyes, "has no future."

Naruto was forced to channel more aura into his Rasengan followed by his wind, Sasuke chuckles as he begins to push Naruto back. "Gah…neh…" Naruto growls as he is being slid back in between steps from Sasuke who just keeps laughing as he pushes Naruto further and back.

"Shi-Yan gave you a light Sasuke!" Naruto screams before headbutting Sasuke hard, which splits both of their heads open, "and you stole hers away!" Naruto canceled out Sasuke's attack with his own as he had aura flare around him.

"You," Naruto punched Sasuke hard across the face, before kicking him into a tree, "Don't deserve to have a future!"

Sasuke gets up, wiping his lip, before looking right at Naruto. "Lady Salem begs to differ Naruto."

Sasuke chuckled as suddenly his robe tears at the back, revealing two wings that were a dark lavender in color as they flapped, Sasuke's skin turned ashen gray as he looked up at Naruto. "This is the power of The Cult, this is the power of the demoness that is Salem."

"You fool," Naruto looked right at Sasuke, "you've…you've traded your soul!"

"Yes, for the power to crush nations and rule over this world as a king. The Uchiha were always of noble blood, my forefathers ruled this world prior to even the second Crusade, back when Soshi was the commonly used form of aura!" Sasuke tells Naruto, "and when faunus were nothing more than slaves to humans."

"You fool!" Naruto screams as he forms a large Rasenshuriken, but instead of throwing he charges right at Sasuke who didn't expect Naruto to be as fast as he was. "Raaaghh!"

Naruto slammed the Rasenshuriken into Sasuke, who smiles, and blocks it with his wings before finding that they were being torn apart! "What?!"

"I've grown stronger because of the willpower carried with me from Shi-Yan-sama and my unbridled fury against you! This is the end of us Sasuke, there will be no coming back, die Dragon!" Naruto screams as he entraps Sasuke, before he felt something stab into his gut.

Naruto looked down, seeing Sasuke's sword covered in lightning, he must've magnetized his sword! "Heh, then I guess we'll see who bleeds out first!"

Naruto launched Sasuke away and watched as he careened against a few trees before the Rasenshuriken exploded. Naruto landed on the ground, holding the wound on his stomach, before he walked over to his mask. Coughing up some blood, Naruto slid his mask back on, before sliding against the tree.

Suppressing his emotions, Naruto saw several Beowulfs run past him and heading for Sasuke's hopeful corpse. Putting on the Swallow mask, Naruto sighed, before climbing up into a tree. As he leaned against the tree he swore he saw a black-haired boy and a pink haired girl sitting next to him.

Naruto eyes fluttered for a moment, before he allowed them to close, _"Sasuke…did it really have to be this way?"_

A lone tear fell from his eye, before he felt himself drift off into a memory.

* * *

 _Naruto, a young and short yellow haired faunus was struggling to climb a tree. Sakura, a human girl with pink hair and green eyes laughed as she watched him struggle. "Come on Naruto, stop being so slow!" she called out to him._

 _"_ _Hey, I'm trying to best I can hear ya know!" Naruto called out as he dug his claws into the bark and attempted to climb that way only for his nails to break, "ah!"_

 _A black-haired boy sat on top of the tree next to Sakura, who looked at Naruto with pity. "Here dobe," Sasuke extended out his hand to Naruto, "take my hand."_

 _"_ _I don't want your help Sasuke!" Naruto yells as he attempts to climb the tree, "I can do this on my own!"_

 _"_ _You can't do everything by yourself idiot," Sasuke sighs as he walks past Sakura, before watching Naruto fall again and caught him before he fell by clutching his hand. "Sometimes you just need a little bit of a hand."_

 _Naruto scuffs at Sasuke, who pulls him onto the tree branch that they were sitting on, the trio looked at the sunset. "So, what's the point in all of this?" Naruto questions, "I'm never going to be as good as you two!"_

 _"_ _With that attitude, you won't be!" Sakura tells him off, "you just need to focus and learn to be able to accept help."_

 _"_ _I've done things on my own for so long, I just don't like being helped." Naruto tells her, before looking at the sunset. "The sun…it reminds me of my village."_

 _"_ _Really?" Sakura said, "it must've been beautiful."_

 _"_ _It really was," Naruto chuckles, "they actually had Sakura trees in the village too ya know. They were pinker than you!"_

 _"_ _Ha, don't make me laugh, my hair is about as pink as pink could get." Sakura points out, they both look at Sasuke, "what does this sunset remind you of?"_

 _"_ _The last night with my family…"_

* * *

Sasuke woke up, he felt snow pelt on his head, before looking down at a puddle of water. The Grimm that came and attacked them had been destroyed by the arrival of Ox who was standing on a tree above him. "You could've finally ended it all, why didn't you go full power?"

"To kill your family, one must dabble in making sure they push your limits beforehand…no other battle will suffice the end of a bond." Sasuke tells Ox as he gets up, before looking around, "the sun is setting beneath the clouds."

"Which is why we must leave; the artifact will be given to Salem by Cinder anyhow. You've missed your opportunity given to you by Lady Salem to kill The Last Swallow." Ox stated in a deep voice, "she will be displeased that he wasn't taken care of sooner."

"She wanted Snake dead as well, should we go after her?" Ox shook his head, "why not?"

"She's still useful, and as far as my sister's concern a less immediate threat than Swallow…Naruto is." Ox told him, "you'll get another opportunity in a few months when we invade Vale and destroy the bastard kingdom once and for all."

"Heh," Sasuke chuckles, "so tell me something why is Lady Salem afraid of The Swallow?"

"That is none of your concern, just know that you've missed an opportunity, for now I must take you back for healing. It would appear Naruto has surpassed Eagle in wind Soshi," Ox scratched his chin under his mask, "come now we've got much to report."

* * *

Swallow woke up, it was night, before he looked around. "Damn..da-ah-mn…"

Swallow got up, and fell to ground and barely caught himself as he walked. Slowly, he looked around, making sure there was no Beowulfs or any other creature of Grimm. He hobbled his way towards the temple, before entering it.

The temple itself was bare bones, but there was a pedestal where the artifact could have been. "Damn…I guess Snake left me." Swallow speaks as he sits down on a pew, before looking over. There he was saw Snake laying inside the pew, asleep, apparently whatever she was holding kept Grimm away.

"Snake…"  
"Mmhmm…"  
"Snake."  
"Mmmm…Na…"  
"Snake!"  
"Wh-what?!"

Snake shot up, her mask flying off, revealing groggy eyes, "oh shit Swallow…you okay?"

Swallow's armor and clothing were in tatters, but his mask was fine. "I'm peachy, I think I killed Dragon…but I'm not too sure. We should leave while it's dark, it'll conceal our movement and give us a natural Grimm barrier when it comes to us being tracked."

"I don't think we should, you look like you could use a rest." Snake tells him, and he leans back into the pew a little bit. "Want to see the artifact?"

"Sure," Swallow tells her as she opens her backpack and reveals a sort of crystal ball, "that's it?"

She nods, and he takes it out of her hand rather roughly and looks at it. "So, this is the thing I watch someone die over, pretty pathetic actually." Swallow mumbles, before considering it as he rolled it around in his hand. "the real artifact is inside this however."

Snake watches as he takes both of his hands and smashes the crystal ball, before pulling out a necklace that a jade stone on the tip of it that was turquoise. Looking at it, Swallow noted the runes on the jade, before handing it to Snake. "It's just a stupid runic necklace, nothing more and nothing less."

Sighing, Emerald took it, before looking at him. "Maybe we haven't found the real artifact?"

"Maybe, or maybe Dragon got to it before us." Swallow suggests as he rolls over, before sighing.

"You're bleeding!" She announces as she looks at the back of his arm, noticing some blood leaking out of it.

"Nothing but a flesh wound, I've had worse…" Swallow mumbles before turning back over to face her, "tell me something…did you ever find out who saved you?"

"Yeah, actually we met the night before left out to this place…his name is Naruto Uzumaki." Snake tells him, "don't tell me this is like the talk someone has before they die…"

"Hah," Swallow chokes out, "you only wish little girl."

Looking up, both saw that the roof was open due to a hole. It was starting to stop snowing and the clouds were clearing up. The stars behind the cloud looked magical in their own way, the moon having just waned enough to not cause too much light pollution.

"You know, at one point in time they tried to go into space…" Snake said before she sighs, "but it ended in failure once the dust generators stopped firing. Apparently, we're stuck on this planet."

"Shi-Yan once told me a story…" she looked over at Swallow, "that comets that traveled in the night sky weren't shooting stars but the spirits of loved ones that come to check over you every so often. She told me that if I looked hard enough I could see different colors, and when I was a kid I used to stargaze…"

"I did too…but I just liked looking at the stars," Snake told Swallow, "but tell me something how many comets do you associate with lost ones?"

"Four...Shi-Yan would be a purple comet; my father and mother respectfully would be yellow and red…" She could've sworn that she heard Swallow choke a little, "Sakura..."

Swallow imagined that a pink comet flew over the night sky, before sighing, "who was Sakura?" he turned to see Snake as she removed her mask. Emerald looked right at him, before he chuckled.

"Just a good friend…" Swallow says before turning over, "please don't' try to touch my mask when I'm asleep…we'll go with your plan tonight."

* * *

 _Naruto and Sakura were walking alone in the forest. "So, why did we walk out here Naruto…what did you want to tell me?"_

 _"_ _I just wanted to say thank you, for helping me achieve my new level in Katachi." Naruto says as they walk towards a small rock overlooking a cliff and sat on top of it._

 _They both looked at the sky, "where's Sasuke?"_

 _"_ _I invited him out here, but he told me to just leave him alone for today…I guess today is the day of loss for him." Naruto sighs, "I can understand it…"_

 _Both sat in silence, before Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled. "I'm really glad that you're my friend Sakura, you and Sasuke both. You're like a second family to me, and Shi-Yan being our grandma or something."_

 _"_ _Thanks Naruto…" Sakura looks away little bit, before noticing a comet pass over them, "oh look!"_

 _Several more comets flew over them, before they saw a meteor shower, both just looking up into the sky. "What are the odds that we would see a meteor shower?"_

 _"_ _A bazillion to one, what do I look like a mathematician." Sakura argues with him, before chuckling, "it really is magical though."_

 _"_ _Yeah…" Naruto said, before looking right at Sakura and smiling._

 _The pinkette looked right back him, before they both looked into each-other's eyes, and slowly started leaning towards one another. This was interrupted by the breaking of a stick, and a man with red hair coming into viewpoint._

 _"_ _Master Nagato!" Naruto whines as he looks at the man, "why!"_

 _"_ _Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Nagato asks as his Eagle mask bounces off his leg as he walks._

 _"_ _No!" Both yelled as the man rubbed the back of his head._

 _"_ _That's a shame, both of you really make a cute couple."_

* * *

Swallow eyes snapped open from behind the mask, he felt warm, before noticing that he had a bandage around his stomach. His mask was still on his face, and his shirt was still on him and stuck to him slightly due to the dried blood.

Apparently, Snake had taken it upon herself to wrap him up in the bandage though, but also, she had her arms wrapped around him. She had her mask back on, but she was lightly snoring, Swallow looked at her over his shoulder before gently removing her hands.

Getting up out of the pew, Swallow looked at his scroll, it was around six in the morning. "Snake…" he called, and watched her lean up. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, really don't mention at all." Snake told him, "I just did it because I felt sorry for you."

"Whatever," Swallow chuckled after saying that, "we should get moving. Cinder is probably worried sick about you, come along now."

"Sure, just let me grab a few things around here. I seen some really old looking coins last night, and I hate to miss them." Snake tells him, before she gets up and goes walking around.

"Hey, quick question for you…" she turns to him, "would you like to see this Naruto Uzumaki again?"

"Maybe, he seemed nice enough, but he told me he wasn't looking." Swallow chuckled a little bit, "what's so funny?"

"I can't really say for sure, but this guy sounds like he's shy around you." Swallow told her, "he's probably never been with a girl before let alone a date."

Snake blushed heavily behind her mask, "just shut up! I wasn't going to do anything like that and this isn't a date…it's a friendly get together."

"Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that." Swallow walks away laughing, leaving behind Snake who was flicking home off as he left.

"I hope that bandage rips open, you asshole!" She screams before stumping off to another direction, but for some reason as she started to calm down shortly afterwards…she found herself chuckling herself.

 _"_ _Damn it, he's starting to rub off on me."_ Snake says as she looks at the mural on the walls depicting a golden dragon fighting a black dragon, _"I wonder how old this place is."_


	13. Chapter 13

Naruto and the two boys were practicing Taiichi stretching in the front of the house, both boys followed Naruto's movement. Naruto had a bandage just under his shirt and he had told them they had a bad fall at work that sent a metal spike through his abdomen. The boys winced, but they knew about the risks of his work.

They just didn't really know what the work was, just the risks.

"Inhale, exhale, be one and move freely like water." Naruto instructs them as they bring their arms to their side, they each had a leaf on top of their palms. "Remember to keep focus of the leafs, keep them anchored by exchanging aura with it and interconnect with it instead of just giving energy to it."

"Yes sir." Both boys said as they followed Naruto's movements, they were both wearing white long sleeve gis to help combat the cold.

Standing up on their right legs, Naruto cupped his left palm into his right palm. As he did, he took his leafs and swirled them around himself with his Soshi and watched as the boys followed, albeit not using any sort of Soshi.

"What I'm teaching you today is known as Peace and Balance, or Heiwa to Heiko in the old tongue. It helps flow aura around in your body, plus gives you better muscle control which his essential in a combat scenario." Naruto speaks to them sage like as he stretches out when he slides his right foot forward as he touches it with the ground.

"Big brother, is this a part of Qingqong?" Aoi questioned Naruto as he followed more closely and loosely compared to Naruto while he watched Ji follow more stiffly.

"Yes Aoi, Qingqong is just a technique manifestation of Kata- Idō, remember what Idō means?" Naruto quizzes them as he they stand up on their left foot.

"Movement/Move." Ji and Aoi answer.

"Precisely correct, Katachi being control and Idō being move, putting them together in Kata- Idō is controlled movement or move. Basically, you guide your body on aura and focus. Focusing aura around you, you can make yourself heavier or lighter. Watch." Naruto instructs, "take a sit…we're done for the day anyhow."

Aoi and Ji sat down on a mat they had brought with them, the scrunching of snow sounded through as they flopped down. Naruto looked at them smiling, before bringing both of his hands down, and taking a deep breath.

Ji and Aoi watched amazed as Naruto jumped up into the air before he kicked off a tree, but unlike a person would normally he floated like a feather in the breeze. He easily glided to the next tree and kicked off it, before going around in a circle before allowing himself to slowly descend while still cupping his hands.

Naruto breathed before smiling, he then jumped up before landing on a small twig and just standing on it with one foot. Both of the boys were amazed, the twig should've broken! Yet, here their elder brother stood on it on no more like a feather, and once more there was no noise being made.

They also looked down to where he landed, and there was slight impression in the snow…but if you weren't literally looking over it you wouldn't even had known someone was there. Slowly, Naruto did various moves on the twig like switching feet to hand standing on his right palm.

"Perfect Katachi and Heiwa-to-Heiko is what's needed to achieve my level of skill." Naruto tells them, "you can be the strongest alive but still you cannot go where the bird can, you may be agile but you cannot fly like a bird can, you may even be fast, but you cannot walk upon air like that of a bird. This is what I was taught when I took upon Qingqong training at such a young age."

"Wow…" Ji murmurs as he gets up and bows to his brother. "Spar!"

"Eh?" Naruto looks confused before Aoi got up as well, and bowed and got into the same stance.

"Alright guys, I'll make a bet with you, I'll go out and buy you all pizza today if you lay one clean punch on me." Naruto offers them, "but you have sixty seconds to do so and if I win you must learn to cook from Aka."

"Pizza vs. a crazy sis with cleaver and a foul temper…Ji?" Aoi questions his little redheaded brother before the boy smirks and drops down into a fighting stance Naruto had taught them. "Guess that means I'm going in to."

Naruto grabbed a clump of snow, balling it up, before tossing it into the air. "When it lands boys, and don't worry I'll be counting the seconds."

The snow clump that was thrown slowly came down, before finally smashing to the ground, no sooner than it did both Ji and Aoi charged at Naruto. they both jumped into the air, powered by their aura and launched twin dragon kicks at Naruto who easily blocked them.

 _"_ _Fifty-nine-fifty-eight-fifty-seven-fifty-six-fifty-five."_

Ji and Aoi spun around in opposite directions before punching at Naruto interchangeably, "ya-ya-ya-ya-ah!" Ji jumped in front of Aoi and kicked at Naruto before rolling out of the way when he missed and allowed Aoi to come in with another flying dragon to which Naruto easily blocked before palm striking both boys back a little bit.

"Hey, you didn't say you'd fight back!" Aoi whines.

"Aoi, in a real fight, an opponent will never show leniency, so expect me to fight back…also forty-five seconds." Naruto tells them as he motions for them to come and fight him.

Both Ji and Aoi ran at Naruto before smacking each-others hands and breaking off. Ji came behind Naruto and charged with a flying knee, while Aoi went low and was going to dry and scissor kick Naruto. who merely smirked and jumped out of the way, leading to the two brothers almost colliding into each other.

Landing softly in the snow, Naruto didn't turn around as he blocked punches from both Ji and Aoi with ease before catching both of their kicks with one arm. "Good teamwork boys, if anything, I've trained you both to work cohesively…oh and thirty seconds."

"Ji, let's do the thing!" Aoi yells as he slams his palms into the snow, Naruto looked confused before his eyes widened as Ji inhaled a large amount of air before blasting it out as wind.

Naruto was so stunned he almost forgotten to block, but that wasn't what caught him off guard it was that there were now ice shards circling around Aoi before he launched them at Naruto. _"You've grown a lot boys…I'm proud of you…"_ Naruto brought up his barrier which blocked them, before he looked at Ji and Aoi stand next to each other.

"Big brother, me and Ji have trained every day that you've been gone. So we tried to learn how to do that Soshi thing, even if our Katachi is poor…but we've managed to get it to where we can do one attack between us both!" Aoi announces as Ji smirks before clapping his hands and red aura flowed around him.

"Aoi!" Ji called and Aoi nodded as he stood by Ji and clapped his own hands, "Ice Soshi: Twin needle!"

They repeated the same thing, but they looked winded afterwards, but Naruto easily blocked the attack. He looked at the toy boys, smiling proudly, "times up."

"Dang it!" Ji smashed his fist into the ground.

"But, you win." Both looked up before gasping when they saw a small cut across Naruto's cheek. "you've given me a clean hit…how careless of me."

Ji and Aoi ran up before tackling their big brother into the snow, all three of them laughing.

* * *

Naruto walked through the market, before coming to the small pizza place and smiled. He was going to use his full speed getting back which would take only about five minutes, the pizza was going to be warm. Walking along the sidewalk, Naruto felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Ayam-Emerald!" Naruto almost screamed in fright as he was startled by the girl, "oh…you actually showed up?"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean, I always keep my promises."  
"I never heard you promise me."  
"I never said I promised you anything, I promised myself that I'd get out more and make friends for once."  
"Oh…well, um…"  
"Where were you heading?"  
"Oh, I was going to head to that small pizza place right there and grab something to eat."  
"Can I tag along?"  
"I guess…don't see why not."

As they walked Emerald took notice of a bandage on his cheek, "jeez you're like a friend of mine always getting beaten up."

"Heh, well I was actually training some Signal students as part of a 'close experience training course', you know where it's like hands on. One of the boys there misfired his semblance and it nearly took my head off." Naruto chuckles a little bit as he rubs the back of his head, "but it's really good to see a pretty _(friendly brain, friendly! Stick the program man!)_ face ya know."

"Really, everybody I talk too always seems to think I have a boyish face." Emerald slightly blushed, "but I guess us round faces gotta stick together eh?"

"Hahaha, guess you're right about that…um, you look like you've been busy." Naruto told her as he looked at the bags under her eyes.

"Ya, my boss sort of yelled at me and my coworker for being late getting back." She sighs, "she can be so moody sometimes."

 _"_ _Bitch is more like it, but moody works…not."_ Naruto had a thought pop into his head, "Hey quick question for you…what do you think is better motorcycle or a car?"

"Motorcycle, definitely, much faster." Emerald tells him while putting both of her hands behind her head, "you looking for a vehicle or something?"

"Yeah, I live on the other side of Vale so it's kind of a long watch each day." Naruto said as they entered the shop and he unconsciously held the door open for her.

"So, how long were planning to be at the market?" Emerald asks him as she walks with him up to the counter, "I'm actually probably going to end up leaving after eating."

"Well, I actually came to take a pizza home with me, but I guess I wouldn't sharing it with a friend." Naruto offered her, before she smiled and nod.

"I'd actually like that…friend." She blushes a little when saying the word.

* * *

Naruto patted his stomach, "man I'm stuffed!"

"No kidding," Emerald looked at the three large pizza boxes, "um…do you exercise a lot by chance?"

"Yep, plus I've got a really-really fast metabolism!" Naruto tells her as he gets up, "sorry if I weirded you out by chance it's just that food is like the icebreaker for me."

Emerald looked at his goofy grin, before finding herself smiling were normally she'd be disgusted. "Um…well, I guess this is goodbye?"

Naruto's grin disappeared before being replaced a by a slight frown, "yeah I guess it is."

"Well…wanna meet back here?" Emerald inquires, before Naruto slightly blushed and smirked.

"I…( _no_ ) guess _(damn it brain, one job!)_ " Naruto spoke while mentally chastising himself, "I mean it won't be a date…"

"Oh…well we'll call it another friendly outing?" Naruto nods at her question, "then it's a da-friendly outing."

Naruto watched as she walked out of the pizza parlor, before sighing, the guy behind the counter whistled. "Boy if you let a piece of ass like that go I don't know what to tell you."

"Can you not say that about her, she has a beautiful face to you know." Naruto growls as he walks up to the counter, "and I need um…three vegies and three cheese to go."

"Well sure thing kid, but be honest with me, she has a nice pair of legs too." Naruto merely tapped the counter, he was very unamused.

"Can…I just please get my order?" Naruto questions him as he growls slightly.

"Oh sure, I'll go grab them right quick like you should be grabbing that ass!" The man howled in laughter before he saw Naruto slam his fist onto the counter and break it.

"Say something like that one more time fatso, say it one more goddamn time and I'll punch your teeth!" Naruto howled in anger, "seriously this is why women sees us guys as pigs!"

Naruto watched as the cook came from back, and placing the pizzas on the only standing piece of the counter left, but Naruto wasn't done…for some reason he felt angry. "I have a friend that is like a sister to me, brown hair and brown eyes and she's as fine as a vixen there ever was but you don't see me here talking about her like she's some easy street girl! So instead of saying something stupid about a body part most people have, how about saying something kind about her eyes which are like an auburn forest inside of Mistral…or her hair which like a beautiful lily pad."

Naruto snatched his pizzas up, "you should be ashamed of yourself to even call yourself an owner!" Naruto spits on the floor before tossing his Liens at the man and walking out.

Naruto felt angry, but not that he was disrespected, it's because a friend had been disrespected. He then stopped, before realizing something. His heartbeat was faster than normal, his senses were all attuned and he had a glowing blue aura around him. He had been so enraged he had forgotten about keeping his aura in check, something that never happens.

Sighing, he smiled, before looking at the box. "Ah look another ladybug."

* * *

Naruto was sparring against Aoi and Ji regularly now. The blonde backflipped as the two unleashed their combo attack before Naruto dashed to the right and blasted them a very depowered wind palm. The two struggled to hold, but together they managed to fight back against it before charging at their brother.

"Ya-ya-ya-ya!" Aoi screams as he attempts to kick Naruto in face several times, only for Naruto watch Aoi grab Ji as he spun around and JI being spun for him to gather momentum behind his kick. Naruto blocked it easily, but nodded as he jumped back and easily avoided the combine kicks/punches that were being launched by Ji and Aoi.

"Very good, very good!" Naruto praises them as he begins blocking them with his knees, before throwing a kick at Aoi.

Ji jumped to Aoi's side and both blocked the kick with their forearms, before Ji vaulted over Aoi's shoulder and kicked Naruto's shoulder much to the blonde's surprise. "Ha!" Aoi screamed as he vaulted over Ji's shoulder and did the same thing.

"Raagghh!" Ji jumped up and using his aura he managed to somersault over Naruto before inhaling. "Lockdown pattern!"

Naruto looked up only to get blasted by a torrent of wind exhaled from Ji's mouth, before he put up an energy barrier to block Aoi's sharp stream of water he made from snow. "Very good, wow, I've just trained you two for three months and you're already on a whole other level than many in your generation."

"Still sucks because I'm going in before Ji…we should be going together!" Aoi states as he crosses his arms, "I'm thinking about holding myself back."

"There'll be no need for that Aoi," Naruto turned around with a smile before seeing another blonde walk out to meet them. "I didn't believe it at first but when your big brother called me and told me that you two were very talented I just had to see for myself."

"Mr. Xiao-Long, I hope the trek wasn't too harsh for you. Spring is nearly here, so the path will become less hazardous." Naruto says as he rubs the back of his head, "I didn't really expect you to show up either."

"Please, I'm anything but a miser when it comes to seeking out talent. I have a daughter a little older than Aoi age there that just got accepted into Beacon. She was literally one of the weakest talents we had until she found a good teacher to train under…speaking of are you by chance a Hunter?" Mr. Xiao-Long inquiries from Naruto as he crossed his arms.

"Well, Mr. Xiao-Long I'm actually a freelancer that's very well versed. So, does this mean my little brothers will be going in together?" Naruto questions him.

"I guess so, I don't see why they couldn't go together. Just be warned that you'll have to pay boarding fees if more than one of your children go." Mr. Xiao-Long told Naruto.

"I could give a crap less," Naruto waives it off as he turns to his two brothers, "well guys looks like you're both going."

"Wait a minute how do you know my teacher!" Aoi inquires, "my future teacher I mean big brother?"

"I actually asked you for his phone number last week while we enjoyed our pizza, I wanted to make sure that Ji had a proper chance to go, and as long as he maintains a C average from what me and Mr. Xiao-Long agreed to…he'll be going." Naruto tells Aoi as he puts both hands behind his back.

"Papa," Naruto turns to see Gama running towards him, "Aka set the chicken on fire."

"Oh man," Naruto pinched his nose, "not again."

"Aka, and who's this little girl calling you Papa?" Mr. Xiao-Long asked Naruto as he bent down to fool with her hair a little bit.

"That's Gama, she's another of the kids I took in. She's actually usually really shy around people," Gama looks at her proclaimed father before running up and hugging his leg, "and there it is."

"Well young man, I've got to say I'm impressed, not many youngins have you temperament to take care of children at your age. You should be given a medal." Mr. Xiao-Long said as he looked at the other children that were standing at the door.

"So, Mr. Xiao-Long, what are going to do now?" Aoi questions as he walks up with Ji, "you've traveled a long way just to see a few minutes of our spar."

"Well, if it's not too much Aoi, I was going to ask your guardian for a nice cup of tea and eat some burnt chicken." Naruto chuckles a little, before looking at Aoi.

"Go get a glass of tea for Mr. Xiao-Long here, and take Ji with you. I want you two to shower before joining us for dinner, please do not forget to wash your armpits…Ji." Naruto looked right at Ji who looked away in embarrassment.

"It was one time…"  
"And that one time stunk up the house ya skunk!"

Ji and Aoi walked away as Naruto waived for Xiao-Long to follow him. "So, Mr. Xiao-Long do you care for a friendly spar?"

"Perhaps, but if we spar do me one favor man." Xiao-Long says as he stops and Naruto turns around.

"And that is sir?" Naruto questions as he drops into a fighting stance.

"Don't call me Mr. anything, just call me Tai young teacher." Naruto nods at Tai's words before smiling.

"Well Tai, don't blame me for giving you a few bruises!" Naruto says as he charges at Tai.


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto slowly walked with Aoi and Ji as they were nearing their transport, it was time for them to both to Signal. Naruto had a little bit of tears in his eyes as he walked them towards it, he knelt on one knee and hugged both. "You take care of yourselves and watch each other's backs no matter you hear?"

Naruto felt them hug him as well, before he looked at Aoi. "Aoi, my little blue eyed orange hair brother, you're the eldest here so please lead Ji. You're smart, you're rational and Ji here is emotionally driven…but promise me that you'll be like me and watch after the little one."

"I promise big brother," Aoi let go of his hug before looking over his shoulder and flashing Naruto a peace sign as he walked towards the transport.

"Ji," the redhead human child snapped his head around to face Naruto, "you may be an emotional kid. Running hot, but you bare a willpower that will one day surpass all of us…you and Aoi look after each other and if he goes after a girl make sure to chase her off for me eh?"

Ji nodded and smiled, "sure…thank you Naruto…for everything."

Naruto teared up a little bit before hugging Ji closer, lightly sobbing into the boy's shoulder, before he sent him as well. As both boys walked onto the transport the back began to close, Naruto just stood there.

He hanged his head low, _"and like the hatchlings of an Eagle they shall take first flight and from there they are free to roam their own kingdom."_

Naruto had to force himself to turn around, before looking at Ayame and she walked over to him slightly crying herself. Naruto hugged her before finally breaking down into sobs, "please tell me I taught them right…please tell me I made sure they're going to be okay…"

Ayame smiled as she cradled Naruto, before chuckling, "look at you…oh…Naruto you did fine. Look at me," Naruto looked up at her, "if they had been your own children they would probably be the most upstanding Uzumakis to ever exist."

"You think so?" Naruto whimpers a little as he broke the hug and wiped his eyes.

"I know so, besides, the first rain is supposed to come this week. Aka and Li are probably having a blast since Dukang and Gama are usually silent." Ayame points out, "so how about you come to the noodle stand for a bit? I'll make you some hot tea, we'll sit down and talk, and you get that never-ending stomach of yours slightly filled eh?"

* * *

Naruto sat at the noodle stand before sighing, and taking a slurp of his noodles. "So, Naruto…I heard about you breaking a counter at a pizza parlor." Naruto nearly choked on his noodles before looking at Ayame.

"Who told you that story?"  
"Oh, the owner was a regular customer of mine, keyword was."  
"Yeah, well he should learn to talk about women better."  
"I'm not going to deny you that Renaldo is a piece of womanizing shit no doubt, but it's not like you to lash out at someone. Especially since coming back from the doctors and all."  
"I'm fine Ayame, it's just…well…please don't blow this up."  
"Hmm?"

Naruto slurped down his noodles, his third bowl, before looking at Ayame. "Truth was I was with this one girl, we met on a starry night in Vale and well…she invited me to tea and we sort of talked about seeing each other on friendly outings."

"Dates." She corrected him, "you're supposed to say dates and its bout damn time sheesh…I might've thrown my hat in there before long."

Naruto nearly choked on his tea, looking at Ayame who was waving him off. "I'm too much of sister to jump your bones Naruto, jeez calm down before you have a heart attack."

"Hahaha, well don't throw that out there like it's something to be taking lightly. Look Renaldo said some things about her…body and I didn't take too kindly to them." Naruto sipped his tea, "he just kept objectifying her based on her womanly traits."

"And you don't like women with womanly traits…is she a woman?" Ayame had to question.

"Yes, she's a girl, sheesh, Ayame stay with the picture alright?" Naruto sighs, "anyway I like womanly traits as much as the next guy…it's just I prefer personality more."

"Ah jeez, Naruto for once act your age…" Ayame grumbles as she pinched her nose, "stop trying to be an adult. If you want to go out and party I'll watch the kids still, if you want to bring a girl to some sleazy hotel room somewhere then do so…but stop acting like you're forty."

"Okay, look Ayame, I'm not that type of guy. Besides, there's just…I don't know, something about her. I mean I wanted to say no to the first outing, but for some reason the words jumped into my mouth and I just couldn't talk straight." Naruto points out, "she's very pretty but it's her eyes that caught me…in…in this weird way."

"Ah, my little Naru is in love~" Ayame singed as she spun around to grab him another bowl of noodles, "so tell me does your heart flutter…do you find her irresistible?"

"My heart beats fine, my eyes do avert…it's just I struggle on what to say. Because, in a way, I am lonely Ayame…" Naruto tells her as he watches his bowl get place in front him, "I'm alone emotionally and…physically."

Ayame sat down and used her elbows to prop her head up when she placed her hands under her chin, "and you're scared?"

"Yeah…because, I'm seventeen and I'm a father to two, a brother to four…I can't…I don't have the time." Naruto sighs, "but I can't just bring myself to say no to anything…it's like she has this spell over me."

"Well Naruto that's call be infatuated, it can strike you at any time, and I do mean anytime." Ayame tells him, she watches him eat his noodles before he sighs.

"Yeah, but Ayame, what if I'm not her type? She could just say that, and that would just break me down a little." Naruto tells her as he slurps down more noodles, "and plus with Gama and Dukang being so young…I don't think there's anyone my age willing to step up if they stick around me long enough."

"I'll have to hand you that, seventeen-year old are always outgoing and partying at times, and then there's you." Ayame says in defeat, "So how much are Ji and Aoi's boarding costs?"

"Ten thousand Liens a month, their new teacher Taiyang isn't half bad fighter either." Naruto says as he finished his fourth bowl, "he actually got a few good licks on me."

"So that's where the bruising came from, yikes, he must've punched you hard."  
"He punches like a freight train, but he's a little bit of a goofy guy, and he didn't really seem to mind my situation…in fact he even said he was proud that Aoi and Ji had a brother like me in these dark times."  
"Sounds like he was trying to show you some fatherly love, but quick question Naruto if you and he sparred good enough shouldn't he offered a job?"

"Actually…he kind of did, but since I don't live in Patch the job is still up for grabs." Naruto sighs as he looks at Ayame, "but I don't think I can just leave everything behind."

"If it means for a better future you should at least consider it Naruto, this freelancing stuff is going to get you killed one day." Ayame bluntly said, "and do you want your little ones to see that their brother and father figure died so young after they've lost so much?"

"No…no I don't." Naruto said resolutely, "I…if I move to Patch then Ji and Aoi could still in my house depending on where I can find one, plus I can take tutoring as a side job."

"See that clock still works in there, just takes a little winding." Ayame said as she knocked on her forehead, "so what's your plan?"

"I'm going to go to my boss and tell him to hand me five big paying missions and then I'm out." Naruto tells her with a sad smile, "but this means…I'll…be leaving you behind as well big sis."

Ayame smiled, "where us birds fly Naruto, it doesn't matter where we land so long as we make a nest."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at her, "that's a funny thing to say."

"Naruto, can you come around back for a moment?" Ayame said lifting herself off the counter, and walking towards the back door of the restaurant.

* * *

Naruto walked to the back alley of the restaurant, seeing Ayame standing there, "so what's up?"

"Naruto…" Ayame looked at him, "I think we both need to tell one final truth bout each other. What I told you in there is a direct quote from a teacher of mine from long ago. You should know her, because Hummingbird I am Dragonfly."

Naruto's eyes nearly bugged out, "how long did you know?"

"I've known for a few months, I found your Hummingbird mask…Gama got into your closet and was playing with it. Do not worry, I won't ask how or what freelance jobs you're doing. Shi-Yan taught us how to survive and carve our path. From an elder disciple sister to her younger disciple brother I congratulate you on following the path of our mistress." Ayame clutched both of her hands together and bowed politely, "do as you must and don't look back from it."

Naruto stood there, before his lip quivered, "thank you Ayame…"

"I thought I'd share with you before you left, Naruto can I ask what Soshi you bare?" Ayame inquired with a warm smile.

"Wind, you?" Naruto asks.

"I bare the Soshi of fire, how do you think I manage to cook noodles so fast?" Ayame inquires as she chuckled a little bit, "my father and Shi-Yan were good friends back in the day and she took me in. If you should ever run into Dolphin or Monkey tell them to head to my noodle shop so we can catch up. I do owe Dolphin a date still hehe."

"I will sis," Naruto sighs before looking at her, "but do you know what happened to Shi-Yan?"

"Yes…I know about Dragon." Ayame answered, "but even I know not to go picking a fight against someone that could easily kill me or my father. Shi-Yan sent all her former student's letters and in one of them she detailed something about having suspicions on Dragon being a traitor along with Ox and Eagle. However, when the letters stopped…I knew what had happened. I never expected someone from that generation to survive let alone be a good guy."

"Well, life is full of mystery, and our birds must figure out a path." Naruto tells her in kind, "but I'm not Hummingbird…I just keep the mask for symbolic reasons."

"Who are you then?" Ayame questioned but she felt no ire.

"I'm The Fox, Sakura Haruno a great friend of mine was Hummingbird." Naruto sighs as he leans against the wall of her restaurant, "she died trying to protect Shi-Yan…Sasuke aka Dragon cut her down."

"I see…I'm so sorry you had to endure the pain like you had throughout your life, I really had no business accepting to learn from Shi-Yan herself but she owed my father a life debt and she made sure to repay it…she was an honorable woman and a very good teacher." Ayame praises Shi-Yan as she gives a sad sigh, "it's almost unfair."

"It is unfair, but we must struggle still. Ayame, there's also one more thing you should know not only am I The Fox I no longer go by the moniker, the mask I have for fox is stored in up in my attic…my new moniker is Swallow." Naruto tells her, before slowly pulling his mask from out under his shirt. "I've been trying to take what I learned from Shi-Yan and honor her memory by giving hope."

Ayame slightly sniveled as she saw the mask, before walking over to Naruto and holding the mask. She rubbed it tenderly, before smiling warmly. "You've sprouted wings Fox and have taken flight as a Swallow indeed."

"So, you approve?" Naruto asks with a smirk

"Did you ever need it before?" Naruto and she looked at each other when she said that before laughing.

"I guess you're right, but thank you for everything Ayame…I'll be sure to come back here once a month for some noodles." Naruto tells her as he clutches both of his hands and bows. "I mean it Ayame, thank you for everything."

Naruto began to walk off, before sighing and turning to her. "Ayame…"

"Hmm?" Ayame hummed before she walked back into the door to the back of her eatery.

"Let us soar to greater lives." Naruto held up his fist.

"And let us see what all the world has to offer us." Ayame did the same thing, just completing the phrase. "Oh…and if you're not busy later…on mind giving me a spar?"

"Heh, maybe." Naruto tells her before smiling, and walking away. "Just call me when you want your butt kicked."

* * *

 _"_ _Your current account balance is seventy thousand, six hundred and fifty Liens and nineteen cents. You have an automatic payment of twenty thousand Liens to be deducted from your account on or about February eighteenth, you have an automatic deduction of ten thousand Liens on or about February eighteenth. Tap one to get further information on this account, tap two to report a stolen account number, tap zero if you wish to speak to a representative."_

Naruto hung up his scroll before looking around, and smiling. He walks up to his bank, The Bank of Eastern United Vale. Walking inside of it, he was motioned to the counter and looked at the woman behind it. "Hello sir, how may we help?"

"I was wondering if Jimmy was still in?" Naruto inquires.

"Jimmy is in the back; would you like me to set up a meeting right now?" The woman inquired almost robotically.

"Yes please." The woman nodded before typing on her computer before picking up the phone.

"Hello Mr. Bridgewater, yes we have a client here wishing to talk to you." Naruto watched as she hung up the phone, "you can go back to the first room on the right."

Naruto nodded, walking towards where she pointed and turned to a hallway before walking in on the first door he came to on his right. Walking in he was met by a rather average looking guy with an expensive suit.

"Ah, Naruto c'mon in and take a seat." Jimmy says as he motions for him to sit down. "How can I help you today?"

"I was looking to get an appraisal done to my house, is there any way I can get someone out there later this week?" Naruto inquires as he crossed his legs, "I've made a lot of additions to it over the last three years and I owe only maybe just three more payments."

"Hmm, well let's see here." Jimmy typed on his computer before coming to Naruto's house before all the renovations. "It says here that you bought this on twenty acres on land on a five percent interest loan of five hundred thousand Lien with a down payment of fifteen thousand…is this true?" Naruto nodded, and Jimmy typed into his computer once more.

"Is something wrong with it?"  
"No, this is actually a perfect opportunity for you to sell, it's a sellers' market now."  
"Alright, so when can I have someone come out?"  
"About a month unfortunately, we've got people stretched thin as is. Is that okay for you?"  
"That's fine by me, would you mind contacting a realtor for me to meet with me at that same time?"  
"No problem Mr. Uzumaki let me just type the scheduling in the computer here…and done."

Naruto got up, before smiling and extending out his hand. "Thank you, kindly sir."

"Not a problem, have a nice day and a wonderful evening."

* * *

Naruto walked into the market, "it's been a few days since I talked to Ayame…wonder if she's doing okay." Naruto thought aloud, before feeling someone tap his shoulder. Stopping he turned around to see Emerald, "oh hey Emerald."

"Hey, you busy right now?" Naruto shrugged as he looked at Emerald.

"Not really, why what's up…do you want to go on that friendly outing?" Naruto inquired as he gave a little bit of a shy smile.

"If you don't mind…" Emerald says as she gives him a smile, "I'll even pay this time around."

"Well, I'll let you pay if it doesn't involve food, because remember the pizza parlor?" Emerald laughed nervously at Naruto's question.

"Yeah, I remember…um…well how about we go drink some tea?"  
"Discuss life?"  
"Sure…I'd like that."

* * *

Naruto and Emerald were sitting across from each other, they were on a balcony overlooking the ocean of Vale, it wasn't really a beautiful setting considering the dark clouds rolling into the area signaling rain. Naruto was drinking Wind Runner while Emerald was drinking Honeyed Tea.

"So, what brings you into the market of Vale this time around Naruto?"  
"I'm just leaving the bank…I'm looking to sell my house."  
"Oh, problems?"  
"No, more like future opportunities in Patch, um…well that won't be for another couple of months anyway."  
"Oh, that long huh?"  
"Is that a bad thing?"  
"No…it's a good thing, I guess…"

Emerald gave a sad sigh, before looking at him. "Do you like being around me?"

"If I say yes?" Naruto inquired as he looked right into her red eyes, "and what if I said no?"

"If you said yes, I'd be happy being your friend, if no I'd been happy just getting to know you. By the way why do you drink Wind Runner?" Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head at her question.

"Well, it's because my mother used to make it for me…she loved to garden and had her little part dedicated to tea." Naruto told her, "in Mistral if you are a family you usually made time to sit down and have tea with one another and talk about life."

"I would love to go to Mistral one day, try out their teas…read their books, learn their culture." Emerald told him, before looking at his fox ears. "You've got cute ears by the way."

"Huh?" Naruto figures out what she's talking about and chuckles, "those are from my mother…my father actually was a human."

"Oh wow," Emerald gasps a little, "how progressive Mistral must be."

"Actually, a lot of the people in my village…sort of…found something wrong in that. However, my father was one of the village guards and he was well respected enough that no one dared harassed us. My mother was a sweet and kind woman with a temper, she had fiery red hair and all to boot a round face." Naruto gives Emerald a sad sigh as he places his cup of tea down, "I miss them…every single day."

Emerald looked at Naruto sighed, before moving her hand across the table to his, and watched as he looked at her blushing. "Well…you've got friends, right? So, you're never going to be alone."

"Emerald…:" Naruto looked at her and smiled as he clutched her hand, "thank you…that means a lot to me."


	15. Chapter 15

Swallow and Snake landed on a cargo train as it moved before slowly walking across the top of it. Coming to a hatch Swallow opened it up before dropping and was quickly followed by snake. "Can't believe you demanded fifty thousand more from Roman or you wouldn't do this job."

"When civilians become involved I make sure not to make a mistake and my fees go up." Swallow tells her as they maneuver inside of the cramped loader, "besides what are we searching for anyway?"

"A new mech suit, classified as Paladin-two, it's supposed to be in one of the railcars. At least that's what Adam provided us," Swallow looked at her, "but then again he was very pissed off about being strong armed into joining us."

"Your master, Cinder Fall, is she her own player or she is working with someone else?" Swallow inquires, "I won't tell if you tell me either way."

"She's working with someone else…but I don't know her." Snake tells him, "you better not say a damn thing I told you."

"I won't, your secret is save with me." Swallow tells her as he opens a door leading to another railcar, "so tell me something why is Roman interested in this suit."

"I don't know, they're planning something big, but they won't tell me…probably won't until last minute." Snake tells him as they look around the room, before coming upon a trunk full of trinkets.

"Snake…" Swallow states without looking as Snake bends down to take some, "don't take anything that will slow you down."

"When does that ever happen?" Snake questions in a haughty tone as she grabs a handful of jewelry.

"The Temple…' Swallow throws in as he looks around, before hearing someone. "Get out of sight."

Snake and Swallow both hid behind objects in the railcar as a guard passes them, Swallow looks at Snake shaking his head. The guard looks around before running towards another railcar and leaving them. "Don't take any guards out unless you wanna move fast…they have very specific routes and timed every railcar to enter…one failure to report in they'll stop this train thinking they fell off."

Snake nodded before she and Swallow began to move towards another railcar, and soon came upon a rather large amount military equipment, guns and all. "we've got to be getting close…" Snake tells him as she moves in front and begins to walk in a hastily over to the next railcar before ducking behind boxes.

Swallow did the same as a couple of guards came in, before walking past them, Swallow moved quickly before the railcar door shuts and held it open for Snake. She ducked under arm as she quickly moved into the next railcar.

"Jackpot." She says as they come upon the right transport which had three of the mechs inside of it, "looks like we've got three of the prototypes."

"They actually fold up like large boxes for easy transport, I've got to hand it the engineer who designed this…he actually was thinking practical. Okay ring up Roman, I'm going to detach this car." Swallow said as he walked outside before forming a Rasenshuriken and began cutting into the metal.

Soon the metal was cut through by the sharp wind, and Naruto blasted his wind palm to slow them down. The train sped away from them rather quickly, leaving them in the middle of a forest which was full of Grimm down below.

"Alright, yeah, understood." Snake spoke on her scroll as Swallow entered, "they're five minutes out."

"This mission actually went smoothly, better than the recent ones, you're learning to be stealthy little Snake." Swallow comments as he rests against a box, "heh, wonder what their faces are like now?"

"Probably freaking out, they lost their jobs." Snake chuckles as she leans against her own box, "so…what does Swallow do on his free time?"

"Heh, I do what I do and if that's drinking then so it shall be." Swallow replies as he sighs, "but I'm afraid my tenure with you all is running short."

"Huh?!" Snake was flabbergasted, "what do you mean?"

"I'm not exactly young, I'm looking to retire while I still have my body functioning like it is." Swallow tells her before chuckling, "what are you going to miss me?"

"No…" Snake answers rather shyly before sighing, "so when do you plan on leaving?"

"After the next few scores we make, so long as they're big time like this one…tell me something little girl have you been seeing that Uzumaki fella?" Swallow inquires as he crosses his arms, "better be careful young men like him only seek one thing from women."

"And, you know him how?" Snake questions, "he's kind…really kind actually and as far as I know he's only interested in being my friend.'

"Heh," Swallow chuckles, "so tell me about him…what do you think about him?"

"Well…what's there to say, I only know that he's kind and pleasant to be around. He's a freelancer so he's capable of fighting that's for sure, and the way he just looks all time is something of him being at peace." Snake comments, "it's weird though…I have trouble myself talking around him."

"Hmm?" Swallow hummed.

"He's sweet…very sweet, and even though he says he's not interested in dating I kind of hope he changes his mind on that…but my job doing this would probably prevent me from ever pressing forward with my feelings on the matter." Snake waived, "but I'd like to at least try…"

"How many dates have you all had?"  
"D-dates…well…um…it's not been really established that they were dates."  
"How so, what does he call them?"  
"Friendly outings."  
"Heh, he sounds interesting, I may have to meet him one day."  
"Oh no, you stay away from him, why are you jealous or something?"  
"Heh, you only wished little girl."

Snake and Swallow felt a magnetic cable attach to the rail, before they felt the railcar being lifted off the track. "So, tell me something Snake what is that you want in life?"

"I just want to one day stop all of this," the answer caught Swallow by surprise, "the destruction of things and all…I mean I love my master don't get me wrong she has been like a mother to me since I was nine. But, all the training she gave me was just so I could do this with my life…but I don't want to just do this."

"I kind of had similar feelings," Swallow tells her and Snake looks at him surprise, "I want to actually retire from this and do something new with my life. These jobs take a toll on you mentally, putting on the mask and pretending to be someone else and act differently from what you normally would…it's a mental beatdown. Soon…sometimes you forget you're even a human or faunus under the mask."

"It's almost as if you become a robot, constantly running and doing things differently…almost like a flip of switch and you're no longer Emerald…you're just Snake." Snake says as she hangs her head low, "what would you do with a new life?"

"I would probably find a nice quite home, in a nice quite place…work a decent paying job, raise a few kids, put them through whatever school they wanted and give them opportunities I could only dream of having…heh, funny thing is who'll be Mrs. Swallow?" Swallow laughs a little, "I think I'd prefer someone like Shi-Yan-sama…seeing as she was mother figure in my life. Kind, energetic…sweet.'

"Wow…" Snake speaks with a sigh, "that's actually pretty well thought out Swallow."

"My dream has been to finally find a normal life, there where I don't have to go out risking my life each day." Swallow chuckles, "but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to fight."

 _"_ _Maybe…maybe I can have that life…"_ Snake thinks as she takes off her mask before looking at it, _"maybe I can leave this all behind one day."_

* * *

Naruto walked with a smile on his face as he came upon Ichiraku and walked inside of it. "Hey, Ayame what's up?"

"Hey Naruto, I'm just getting ready to open, what ya needing?" Ayame inquires as she puts some spots over a gas stove. "I'm going to be opening here in ten minutes."

"Well first, I'm…deciding on something, I think you're right." She looks up at him, "I'm going to try and start dating."

Her smile was bright before she finished starting the stove, "and you just came here to tell me that?"

"No, I've come here to ask you if you wanted to meet Emerald, so do you want to meet Emerald?" Ayame nodded as she crosses her arms.

"Oh, course I want to meet this girl, so when do you plan on bringing her by?" Naruto coyly rubs the back of his head at her question, "Naruto…"

"Probably tomorrow, she told me she'd be in the market tomorrow evening. Um, by the way I got to grab a huge pot of ramen and take it home with me. The kids are wanting Ramen, and well…" Naruto hangs his head laughing, "Aka sort of burned the last chicken we had…again."

"Hey at least she's starting to get comfortable around a stove, so what kind of ramen were you looking to get?" Naruto scratched his chin as he thought it over.

"I want an of Miso shrimp, Li and Aka are wanting seafood, Gama and Dukang could care less what I bring them…speaking of Gama though did you ever get an order of Tastoky Candy in?" Naruto inquires before watching Ayame toss a couple bags of the sugar-coated honey treats onto the counter, "that's them."

"I'll sell them half off, besides…isn't it nearing Dukang's birthday?" Naruto nodded, "what are you getting him?"

"An art easel, some sketch pads, probably a new pair of hiking shoes with the cleats at the bottom to help for walking in our forest…" Naruto smiles warmly as he takes the candy and swipes his scroll under the scanner, "so I talked to Taiyang a little bit more and told him I'm in the process of selling my home down this way and moving down to Patch…he even offered to take in the kids while I worked on moving everything."

"He sounds like a father himself, does he have kids?" Ayame inquired.

"Yeah, he has two girls, both grown and out of the house…well one's fifteen she's just now going to Beacon. Taiyang reminds me of my father a lot, he's pun master, but when it comes to naming things he really is…terrible…just god awful." Naruto laughs a little, "but I'm glad I'm going to be working with him. He convinced the headmaster of Signal to keep the position open for me."

"How much is it a year?" Ayame questions.

"About two hundred thousand Liens, nothing really special or wow like my freelancing work…but it's enough to pay off a house in a few years. Plus, I'm going to have an appraiser come and look at my house now so I may not even have to worry about paying off a house." Naruto smiles, "I guess things are looking up."

"That's good, anyway it'll be about fifty minutes or so before this is down…I think you should go pick up the things you were going to pick up from Dukang. His birthday is the twelfth, right?" Naruto nodded and looked at Ayame.

"After you lock up tonight do want to spar?" Naruto inquires as he walks towards the door.

"Sure, just better bring your A game." Ayame teases him as he walks out.

* * *

Naruto and Ayame clashed as both threw kicks at each other, with Ayame easily out kicking Naruto who struggled slightly. She held chopsticks in her hands as weapons before attempting to slap Naruto with them as they were knives.

Naruto blocked her forearms which stalled her strikes making her drop the chopsticks and gave him time spin on his foot to kick her away. She had a bright yellow around her that gave light to the dying sun around them. "Fireball." She calls as she breathes a large amount of fire from her mouth and Naruto easily negates it by creating a barrier of wind in front of him which contains the fire.

Kicking off a tree, Naruto somersaulted over Ayame who followed him by jumping leading to a clash of fists as both started to come towards the ground. The blonde and brunette both punched each other in the face, both smirking.

Both backed off each other by jumping away, Naruto placing his palms out in front him before bringing his hands to his side before placing right arm out in front with his thumb and index finger up. "Ha!"

Ayame spreads her arms out, before placing her left palm facing up, and her right palm facing down. "Not bad Naruto, you've got a hold of Mistralian boxing no doubt, but my techniques are palm based which make them more damaging."

"You're too slow to hit me properly however, so even catching me with the side of the palm it won't transfer as much damage as it normally would. In a hand to hand fight you're not too shabby Ayame." Naruto calms down and clutches his hands then bows, "this was a great spar Ayame."

"Indeed it, Naruto." She does the same thing, "It's been a while since I could loosen up like this, save the for the occasional pervert that tries to get a little frisky at a nightclub."

"Heh, I hear you on that one, thank you for the friendly match for once. It's been a while since I had a friendly match, last time I had one was against a woman named Raven."

"Hmm she sounds familiar," Ayame scratched her chin, "eh who cares. Anyway, Naruto would be okay if I crashed here tonight, it's a little bit late and I don't really like walking in the forests by myself."

"Sure, anything for family disciple sister." Naruto motions her, "besides you've helped me hundreds of times, how can I say no?"

* * *

Naruto was walking through the market, he had a couple of plans today, Ayame was opening her store up so he would probably take Emerald there still if she wanted to go. Speaking of Emerald, he smiled once he noticed her looking around for him.

Walking up to her, he stayed out of sight before lightly tapping her shoulder. "Huh, oh!" Emerald nearly jumped before she started laughing, "so you finally got me?"

"Yeah, well, I just now got here. Sorry if I was late, well, ready to go on another friendly outing?" Naruto inquires as he smiles brightly.

"Su-sure, um, where did you want to go? Want to have some tea again?" Naruto thought about her question for a moment.

"Actually, I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine that's almost like a sister, she owns a noodle shop here in the market…you like noodles…right?" Naruto asks with a confident smile but a shy voice.

"Yeah…I love noodles, I haven't had any in a long time. If you want I can pay for my half…" She said as she watched Naruto chuckle.

"Nah, not this time Emerald, it's my treat." Naruto says, "besides…you were nice enough to buy me tea last time."

"O-oh okay then, well, lead the way." She motions him, but she then feels him snake his hand onto hers, but she didn't resist…she didn't even want to.

Naruto and her walk through the market, coming to the ramen shop within five minutes or so. Naruto politely opens the door for Emerald and they enter. "Ayame, hey Ayame!" Naruto calls out to the cook who was busy making a bland batch of ramen to have it premade for the spices or add ins for when someone ordered.

Ayame turns around to see Naruto, "oh hey Naruto, you and your _friend_ can take a seat wherever y'all like, I'll be with you both momentarily."

Naruto and Emerald take a seat in booth as a server comes around with a menu and gives them one. "Hello, I'm Horiuchi, I'm going to be your sever for today. What can I get you all to drink?"

"Wind Runner tea please…"  
"I'll have some as well."

Horiuchi nodded and walked off as he wrote down their drinks on the ticket book.

Naruto turns to Emerald, smiling, "Ayame here is probably the best noodle chef to every exist. I actually kind of wanted to bring you here the other day…but I didn't know if she was going to start teasing us."

"Us, what do mean by that?" Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head at her question.

"Ayame is like an older sister too me, she teases me when it comes to girls, I'm hoping she doesn't try to pull anything." Naruto tells Emerald as she chuckles a little bit, and Naruto chuckles as well.

Unconsciously Naruto makes a comment that makes him stop laughing, "you've got a really cute laugh."

"Huh?" Emerald looked at him blushing, "I…I have a cute laugh…is that a bad thing?"

"No, it's a good thing…I…I um…I really like it when you laugh." Naruto says nervously, before smiling while blushing himself. "S-sorry if I was sudden in saying that."

"No, you're fine…I actually like the compliment…people say I have a boyish laugh." Emerald tells him as she stares away, blushing a little bit more.

She looks back at him, before smiling. "You've got great eyes…" she says, "it's almost like considering the ocean on a warm summer day"

Naruto blushed bright red as he laughed, before smiling. "Well yours is like considering a fall forest in early autumn…when all the leafs are falling."

"That's my favorite time of year…" She murmurs, "when I was kid I used to go dancing in the falling leafs."

"You did that too?" Naruto questions her, "I did that all the time when I was younger…and still do on occasions."

Emerald found herself getting more comfortable talking to him, before she smiled. "Wou-would you like to go dancing with me one day?"

"Well…so long as it's not like the nightclub incident I wouldn't mind…"  
"No…I mean, when it becomes fall."

Naruto looked stunned, before he smiled, and moved his hands onto hers. "I'd love too."

Ayame was watching them, before snickering deviously she cut Naruto's usual pork miso into fine little hearts, and cut up the usual vegetables into hearts as well. Chuckling, she looked at Naruto stroking Emerald's hand.

 _"_ _Aww, I'm definitely taking a photo of this."_ Ayame smirked as she got out her scroll before snapping a picture.


	16. Chapter 16

Naruto slowly wakes up to the morning sun and gets ready for the day. He is walking towards the kid's rooms and opens their doors, smiling seeing that they were asleep. Today was Dukang's sixth birthday, he looked at his second scroll that he had gotten the day prior to meeting Emerald again at the market. It had a text message on it, and opened it.

 _"_ _Hey, Naruto thanks for the noodles yesterday and your number. If you're reading this just wanted to know if you'd like to this kind of friendly outing again, please hit me back, oh and your sister took photos of us."_ Naruto read chuckling as he started to text back, before closing his scroll.

 _"_ _I'll just meet her tomorrow, we've got another day before we both have to be back to work…but…I wonder how she'll react going to somewhere new…man this dating stuff is complicated."_ Naruto scratched his chin before walking over to the closet in the kitchen.

He looked inside of it, finding the art easel already wrapped up and smiled. Ayame must've wrapped everything up for him, and he looked over at the fridge. Walking over to it he opens it to find all vegetables and onions he was needing still there.

Reaching up he brought down a crockpot and sat it on the kitchen counter before starting to make what would be family dinner for Dukang. It was going to be roast beef and carrots sautéed with onions. Flipping open his scroll he began to read of the directions to make the roast beef in the crockpot with everything he wanted.

He even grabbed a chef's bonnet, before walking over to the closet and grabbing a couple of pans out. He was going to make them breakfast while that was cooking, which would take about a good twelve-hour roast in the crockpot.

Sighing, he felt his scroll vibrate as he was going for the pancake mix. He took the pancake mix over to the table before getting out his scroll. It was Emerald, she had sent him a thumb's up emoji making him chuckle as he placed it back in his pocket.

He heard footsteps as he looked to see Li walking in and rubbing her eyes. "Hey Naruto…what'cha doing?"

"Cooking you all breakfast," Naruto tells her, "do you want to help me?"

"Sure, what do you want me to do?" Li inquires as she rubs her eyes.

"I want to take a measure glass from the closet and fill it up with about a cup of milk. Get out a mixing bowl and crack the dozen eggs I bought yesterday into it that's mark for breakfast…I'm going to have you work on a special task for me today." Naruto tells her and she nods doing as she was told.

"So, what will you have me do today, am I cooking for Dukang's dinner?" Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, already beat you to it kiddo. You are however going to be making his cake." Li's eyes bugged out before she clapped in a gleeful manner, "you want to?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Li says as she starts doing what he asked her to do, "so why are you mixing milk with eggs?"

"It's makes them fluffier, I know you all never really had me around much over the last couple of weeks…but I think today I'm going to stay in and make sure you all have a very good day." Naruto tells her, "because that what a big brother does for his family."

"Love you too big brother, any word from Aoi or Ji?" Naruto nods as he turns to her.

"Yeah, they started their orientation yesterday, and they're going to be doing a lot of fun stuff to get acquainted with the school." Naruto tells her, "and maybe one day you might go there if you want to be a Huntress."

"I don't really want to be a Huntress…but I want to be a cook however." Li tells Naruto as she finishes up and walks over to stove to turn it on. "You forgot to turn the stove on."

"Oops," Naruto laughs, "sorry about that."

"Aka was awake when I left the room, she should be getting up…Naruto can I ask a question?"  
"Sure, go ahead Li."  
"Do you think we'll ever…ever…have a sister?"  
"Huh, you got Ayame."  
"I mean…you and someone getting married."

Naruto stops for a moment, before smiling, turning to Li. "Actually, Li don't say anything to Aka or anyone for that matter…I'm actually sort of in the process of dating someone."

Li's eyes lit up, "really?!"

"Mmhmm," Naruto looks at her, "but I'm not going to tell you her name."

"Aww, no fair!" Li whines as she crosses her arms, "you just c _an't_ say something that good without finishing it."

"I will," Naruto pours the egg mixture into a pan, "and I just did."

"Aww…" Li was a little miffed before she smiles, "should I grab Aka and everyone else up?"

"Please and thank you." Naruto says as she gets up, he then begins to make the pancake batter before putting them on the skillets as well.

* * *

Everyone was eating, enjoying the bountiful breakfast Naruto made for them, Naruto tapped his glass full of water before clearing his throat. "As you all know, today is a special day, today's Dukang's birthday. So, for today I'll be doing all the chores and you all work on doing activities with your little brother."

"We're going to give Dukang highlights!" Li shouts as she looks at the six-year-old boy with a grin.

"I was actually going to take him walking around the forest," Aka says, "and probably give him spots he could draw for later."

"I'm going to share my candy!" Gama announces as she holds up her bag, making everyone laugh.

Naruto smiles as he takes a photo of everyone, before going back to breakfast.

* * *

Li and Aka were sitting with Dukang facing a mirror as they gave the brown hair boy some blonde highlights, chuckling a little at how goofy he slightly looked. "he looks handsome girls." Naruto tells them as he walks over to Dukang.

"Hey papa," Dukang says as he looks at his father figure, "do you I really look handsome."

"Yes, you do, and I think Aka is supposed to go for a walk with you." Naruto reached under his baggy shirt and pulls out a shoe box. "This is your first gift…I know you slip in fall in the mud sometimes but this should help you."

Dukang's eyes lit up as he opened the box to reveal hiking shoes, and hugged Naruto before the blonde hugged him back. "Happy birthday buddy boy." Naruto tells him as he breaks the hug, "go on try them on. Aka go ahead and get ready."

"Yes sir!" Aka says happily as she gets up and walks towards her room.

Naruto sits there and watched Li bring Dukang some socks so he could put on his new shoes, getting out of his scroll Naruto took a photo of them. Smiling, he watched as Dukang easily laced the shoes up before standing up and smiling.

"They're so soft!" Dukang said as he jumped around in them.

"The cleats at the bottom are actually a soft rubber so they'll form around stone or wood that you step on, now go on, get! Your sister is waiting for you and you know how Aka gets when she's kept waiting." Naruto watched as Dukang ran up and tackled him and snuggled him for a moment.

"Love you papa," Dukang walks away before laughing as he ran over to Aka.

Sighing, Naruto looked Li and smiled, "you're going to go ahead and cook the cake."

Li nodded and ran over to the kitchen before quickly getting out everything she needed, and Naruto looked at Gama and smiled. "You and I are going to dance," Naruto played some music from his scroll onto a connect stereo system in the living room.

Gama laughed as she placed her little hands inside of Naruto's and began to lightly waltz with him. Li looked at them chuckling, before going back to what she was going.

* * *

Naruto was sitting on the couch folding clothes with Gama, before looking over the half-done cake being made by Li. "Li take a break and come here and watch The Huntsman with us." Gama called out to her sister, Li nodded and walked over to the duo and flopped down on the couch.

 _"_ _Stop evil villain or feel the wrath of my gauntlet of darkness!"  
"Curse you, how could I be stopped by someone so deviously good!"  
"Because, Mr. Wolf, I'm The Huntsman and I'm the protector of Remnant and her people."_

Naruto smiled as the kids became engrossed into the movie, before lightly stroking Gama's hair. He hums a tune in his head as Gama crawls up on him and lays there. They all watched the movie all the way to its end before Li finally went back to making her cake for Dukang, and Gama had fallen asleep for her nap.

Naruto picked her up lovingly before carrying back into the girl's room and laying her down in her small bed. "Renchaku ha na hanasai~" Naruto sings for her, "this love and attachment I shall never let go of."

He hums as he covers her, tucking her in, before smiling as she snored loudly. For being a shy girl around others she was quite the loud snorer, he chuckled before walking out of the room and gently closing the door.

Walking back into the kitchen Naruto snuck up behind Li who was busy getting the other additions ready for the cake, Naruto saw the cake batter which was marble mixture in the shape of a strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla.

Reaching it the batter with one finger, Naruto took a taste of it, "mmm."

"Big brother!" Li yells as she throws some flour at him, "no batter stealing!"

"Hey-hey-hey!" Naruto loudly yells as she runs at him with more flour, running him out of the kitchen only for herself to run back in when he grabbed a towel and started flicking at her feet.

Naruto and Li faced off against each other, "on guard!" Li screams as she launches some more flour at Naruto who skillfully dodged it, before flicking at Li who dodged it as well. "Miss me-miss me now ya gotta kiss me!"

Naruto laughed as he ran over to her, before placing a big kiss on her forehead.

* * *

Naruto sighs as he finishes putting the clothes up before walking over to his closet and looking at his mismatched things. He looked down before smiling as he pulled out a case. Opening it, his Erhu, it was a Mistralian version of Vale's violin.

Naruto saw that it was still in perfect condition, before smiling as he started to walk back into the living room with it. He watched as Aka and Li were talking. Dukang was busy playing around with his new game that Naruto got him on his mobile gaming system.

Taking a deep sigh, Naruto began to play upbeat tune on it, before watching everyone stare at him. "The rabbit goes running through the grass-the grass…" Naruto sings as he rapidly pulls across the Erhu, "back to his children-to his children."

Naruto began to get into rhythm as he stood up, before tap dancing along the floor and danced his way into the kitchen. "Sister rabbit has red fur, she's annoyed easy but is sweet and tender at heart~" Naruto sings as he stands behind Aka who growls and turns her head in embarrassment.

Naruto spun around while still playing and came behind Dukang. "His son was very openminded but closed mouth, but he is a sweet-sweet boy who would not even hurt a moth." Naruto signs as he played his Erhu more slowly, "and he has a special-day-today."

Tapping along Naruto came behind Li, "sister blondie this I know, for the smell tells me so. You can cook a mighty fine dish, but tell me what's your wish!"

Naruto stopped playing, waiting for Li, who smiled. "My wish is for everyone to have a very-very good day, so we can and we can play~" She singed with a light tune while Naruto nodded and went back to play his Erhu and spun around to the entrance of the kitchen.

"This wonderful-so-wonderful family, with you all I am happy, now as I-finish-my-son, I'm go-ing-to get a very tired daughter from her bed." Naruto stopped playing and bowed as his brothers and sister along with Dukang clapped for him.

"Thank you, thank you, you're far too kind." Naruto says as he walks back into his room, "oh yeah family meeting in a minute before we start dinner."

Naruto walks into his room before placing the Erhu down, closing it in its case, before seeing a picture of himself and his parents when he was still a young kid. He had played for the festival that year, and that was many moons ago, but he still remembers his mother proudly singing along with him along with his father whistling the tune.

Naruto lovingly stroked the picture before playing Erhu back inside, _"mother…father…thank you for everything."_

* * *

Naruto walking in the market, before he groggily wiped his eyes as he stepped towards his mint haired friend with a smile. "Hey Emerald."

"You okay Naruto, you look tired." She said with a smile, "busy?"

"Just got done with a job yesterday, well…um…ready for another friendly outing?" Naruto inquires as he as he extends his hand out.

"Sure, what would you like to do?" She asks, "I'm pretty much up for anything."

"I thought about us just going for a walk," she takes his hand, "probably going to grab a bite to eat somewhere."

"Sounds more like a date than friendly outing," she points out making him blush, "just like the dinner two days ago."

"If…well if they were?" Naruto inquires, trying to test the waters.

"I think they were very sweet," Emerald says as he feels her wrap her arm inside of his, "and I wouldn't mind going another _friendly outing_ today."

Naruto blushed, but he and Emerald began to walk. The duo slowly walked by each other as they looked around at the all the other couples there, but then again, they weren't officially a couple. Both Emerald had mixed emotions, both feeling warm and fuzzy while still feeling slightly lonely.

"So, Emerald I must ask you, have you ever dated before?" Naruto questioned her as he felt her lay her head on his shoulder, "I hope ain't being rude by asking."

"No, you're not being rude asking…have you?"  
"Never had the time, well never really tried to make time."  
"I can understand…so where would you be moving to after these two months?"  
"Patch."  
"I heard it's a good place to settle down, get away from everything, do you have a job there or something?"  
"Yes, I'm going to be a new teacher at Signal Academy. I thought I could at least pass on my knowledge to the next generation, keep humanity around for a little bit longer."  
"Naruto…can ask you a question?"  
"You just did."

Emerald lightly chuckles, "do you think we can try to better our lives simply by our own will or is it fate?"

"Fate is real don't get me wrong, but it's up to you what you decide to do. You either accept your fate or push past it. We're all fated to one day to depart this world onto whatever is next, I just want to see what kind of life I can live…and hopefully not destroy anyone else's while I'm around." Naruto answers her, "but I know one thing Emerald…I'm happy to be here right now…what do you think?"

"I think we're of our own willpower, we choose to do things and in the end what matters most is what we leave behind." Emerald sighs, "I just hope I leave behind something good."

"I think you can, really, I think you can leave behind something good in this world. Your very kind, so impart that into the next generation and with more kindness like that you may just be the cause that ends the strife of brother against brother." Naruto tells her before blushing a little at his words, "but I think that if I have to say it's a beautiful day today."

"Yeah…" Emerald looks up at him, snuggling against Naruto as they walked.

* * *

Naruto and Emerald ended up walking around the outer part of the city of Vale for a while, until the sun started to set. Both were sitting at an open-air eatery looking at the sunset. Naruto and Emerald were enjoying steak as they watched sunset.

Of course, their waiter was a little bit rude, a faunus being seeing in the company of human girl was a little too progressive in Vale for some people's liking. However, as they both finished their dinner, Naruto looked at Emerald before smiling.

"You know…Emerald…this sunset is the second most beautiful thing here." Naruto says as he turns from the sun and looks at her, "I think you have it beat though."

Emerald blushed madly, before laughing a little, "me and my boyish face beating out the sun haha…"

"Hey…I don't think you have a boyish face." Naruto says as he smiles closing his eyes, _"do I have anything better to say?!"_

"Well…your face…um," Naruto perks up a little bit hearing Emerald's nervousness, "it's cute with those whisker marks…it makes you look like a cat."

"Bwhahaha," Naruto laughs as he rubs the back of his head, "that's funny Em."

"Em?" Naruto stopped laughing for a moment, "is that like a pet name?"

"S-sorry," Naruto sighs, "it just slipped out."

"Well that's fine Naru, just don't make it a habit.' She says with a smirk.

"Heeey!" Naruto whines a little bit, "you don't make it a habit either missy."

Both him and her laugh at each other, before both stopped and considered each other's eyes. They smiled before they both got up. "Well…I think this _friendly outing_ was great." Emerald states as she walks over to him, "but unfortunately we've got to call it a night."

"Yeah…" Naruto sighs, "I really enjoyed today though…it's a change from the normal for once…at least to me."

"Yeah…me to." Naruto looks at her before she leans in and places a small chastise kiss on his cheek making him blush, "I'll see you around Naruto…give me a ring in a few days alright?"

"S-s-sure," Naruto says as she starts to walk away before placing his hand where she had kissed him, smiling he watched as the waiter came by.

"Ready for your check sir?" Naruto nodded, handing him scroll, "alright I'll just scan this and you'll be on your way."

Naruto didn't even care about the bitter tone, he just looked at the sun, smiling as closed his eyes and felt it's warmth…though it wasn't really the sun he was feeling, it was his heart.


	17. Chapter 17

Two people blurred as the sound metal on metal was heard, Swallow and a man with gray hair and funny smell to his breath clashed. "So sorry to cut in like this, but I don't like anyone hurting my friends." Swallow says as he kicks the man away, as the man was kicked away Naruto watched him unfold the s _word_ he was carrying into a scythe.

"I'm not pickled enough for this…" the man wipes his mouth before bringing a flask to his mouth, "jeez man you're actually quite strong."

Swallow outstretched his arms, pointing his palms up and down like Dragonfly had at their spar one night. "You're not half bad yourself old man, but don't worry if I start winning I don't plan on killing you."

"Who said you were going to start winning," Qrow takes another drink of his flask before throwing it at Swallow who kicks it up into the air, "I'm drunk enough I suppose…"

Swallow barely dodged Qrow as he dashed and nearly took his head off, before he watched the man spin on one foot and scrape his scythe against the ground before slicing upwards. Swallow gracefully dodged the attack and looked over to Snake who was currently trying to pick herself back up.

"Do you have the codes yet!" Swallow yells as he nearly gets cut in half, "because this guy is actually pretty damn good."

"I'm the best."  
"See!"

Swallow watches as Snake turns to him, "I'm trying but our boss is an absolute ass hat when it comes to this, he says he is enjoying the fight!"

"Tell Emperor to kiss my," Swallow kicked Qrow away and watched the man skid to a stop smirking, "ass."

"Hey Swallow told to tell you to kiss his ass!" Snake yells as she turns around and brings out her kusarigama and turns them into pistols before unloading at Qrow.

Standing side by side, Swallow and Snake begin to maneuver around each with Swallow dodging his shots as he dashed to the right flank of Qrow who was busy spinning his scythe around and blocking bullets. "Ya!" Swallow screams as he dragon kick's Qrow into the side of a wall inside the room they were fighting in.

Qrow smirks and points his scythe at Swallow who then gets blasted away, before the masked infiltrator slides to a stop on his feet. Both look at each other, Qrow and Swallow, both snickering at each other. "You seem to enjoy a good fight."

"I really do, you have a familiar fighting style to lady I fought with."  
"Oh God…please tell you didn't fight a woman named Raven."  
"Bingo!"  
"She's my sister, was she a total you know…"  
"Bitch?"  
"You said it not me, but yeah."

Swallow nervously rubbed the back of his head before watching Qrow dodge Snake's attacks as she came in spinning around with her kusarigama flaying about. Qrow was nonchalantly blocking her attacks as if she really wasn't doing much and sighed looking at Swallow.

"Cat got your tongue?"  
"No…she tried to seduce me."

Qrow was so stunned that he got knocked away from Snake, only for her to hear a beeping in her scroll and she cursed as she ran over to the flash drive that she had plugged into a computer.

Qrow meanwhile looked green, and that green then exploded onto the floor. Whatever awesome fighting music he had played in his head was met with a record scratch as he looked at Swallow, "my sister tried to seduce you?!"

"Yeah…" Swallow rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not too happy about it either. I mean don't get me wrong…she's not my type but she's actually in a very dark way beautiful…there's just something…"

"Off?" Qrow questions as he gets out another flask before smirking, "seriously if you make it through this I would seek therapy…she's nuttier than a squirrel on White Dust."

Swallow couldn't help it, he clutched his stomach laughing as he got the joke immediately. "Oh man that's fun-aah!"

"But, seriously man, don't let your guard down." Qrow says as he blows the smoking scythe's top, before walking over to Snake.

"Um, Swallow you okay there buddy?" Snake inquires as Qrow gets closer, Swallow for his part hopped up.

"Yeah, I'm having a little bit of fun, sorry." Swallow jumps in front of Snake and holds out his palm, "it's been a good fight…unfortunately I've gotta do my job."

Swallow spins around as he steps towards Qrow before forming two blue spheres in both of his hands. Somersaulting over Qrow the man barely blocked one of them as Swallow launched it, before being stunned by Swallow's speed as he felt the masked infiltrator smash the other onto him and blast him back.

Luckily his aura held up, and he pointed his scythe at them before unleashing barrage of slashes towards them, Swallow smirked as he turned around and dashed over to Snake forming a barrier made of wind. _"Wind Soshi…or is it a semblance?"_ Swallow questions as he looks towards Snake, "I'm going to make a breach…run out of it please."

"Right." Snake said as she stood behind Swallow as he started to form a Rasenshuriken in his hands, before Qrow barely jumped out of way as he tossed it.

The sphere that formed filled the room with wind as Qrow used his aura to block out any incoming rubble before watching Snake dash out, he went to pursue her but got cut off by Swallow who began to rapidly punch and kick at Swallow forcing him to back off.

"You fight better drunk?" Swallow questions him, "that's actually frigging cool!"

"Heh, good question is your semblance wind?" Swallow smirks under his mask as both clash and deadlock each other, "because if so you've got good mastery over it."

"Actually, I was going to ask where you learned Soshi." Swallow says as he kicks Qrow away, "not many Huntsman know it, that's let alone no one properly trained in Katachi."

"Heh, I guess you're a wind user…hello wind brother." Qrow says as he smirks, "not many people know about this stuff."

"Save those who run Beacon, probably some of the strongest users," Swallow tucked his arms to his side. "I guess I'll have to get serious!"

His aura flared up as blue energy swirled around him, Swallow charged once it formed over him, and Swallow sliced his scythe towards him before looking stunned as Swallow used his forearm to block it. "When my aura is running high, there is nothing that can stop me, and I can form barriers that hug my skin tightly to make it look like just normal aura…" Swallow smirks under his mask, "this is the power of a Swallow."

Qrow transforms into a crow and reforms behind Swallow, before attempting to slice him, only for Swallow to kick backwards and send him flying away. "Nice try!"

Qrow corrects himself before spinning his scythe around as he watched Swallow take another stance, and dash at him. Both engaged each other once more, Swallow and Qrow dodging and countering each other's attacks.

"Heh, this is fun!" Swallow says as he blocks the scythe with another close barrier before palm striking Qrow backwards.

 _"_ _Damn it, this guy is good…but this is fun."_ Qrow sighs, "what did you all steal anyway?"

"Meh," Swallow shrugs, "I don't know."

"Eh?!" Qrow gasps as he looks at him, "what do you mean you don't know…you don't seem like the type to bullshit someone."

"I get paid, I do a job, and I don't kill anyone doing it." Swallow says as he crosses his arms, "that's a code of honor I live by. So long as no one dies in my missions I consider them successes."

"Heh, well aren't you just a bleeding heart." Qrow jabs at him, "but sorry to burst your bubble you aren't leaving here guy."

"Oh?" Swallow looks right at Qrow, and the man notices his eyes glowing red. "You're going to stop me?"

"Maybe," Qrow says, "but if I don't I will next time."

Swallow chuckles, before dashing at Qrow and only using his legs as an attack as he kept his arms crossed. "You're going to have to get good scrub!" Swallow yells as he launches kick after kick, before spinning around block Qrow's scythe with his knee before kicking the man in the face.

As Qrow is flying back, Swallow makes his way over to breach.

Swallow hears the shots being fired off before turning and forming a barrier, then forming blasting several Rasengan towards Qrow who slices them away. Only to watch them explode into blinding blue lights, blocking out the light, Qrow watched as Swallow moved towards the breach where he saw a transport come.

"Qrow!" Swallow calls out before clutching his hands and bowing, "thank you for the fight!"

Qrow goes to charge at them, but was forced to stop when several dust grenades got thrown from craft by Snake flicking him off. "That's for the surprise attack asshole!" she yells as they go off before the transport flies off.

Qrow stands there, before sighing, "oh great…now I can die by big boobs screaming…"

He looked at his flask sitting on the ground, still filled with alcohol, he smirked. _"It was a fun match…but damn I wonder what they were stealing."_

* * *

Swallow and everyone were gathered around the table. "Alright everyone, it pleases to me to announce that our little operations here and there have been great successes. So everyone is getting a bonus of twenty thousand Liens."

Neo clapped her lands like a little school girl would, before chuckling.  
Roman simply blew a loose strand of his orange hair out of his eye.  
Emerald didn't seem to care, but look at her scroll.  
Swallow was busy looking at Emerald who was looking at her scroll.

He noticed that she was looking at pictures of her and Naruto out on their last date. She had taken liberty of taking photos of them on their walks, selfies and all that…and some pictures of the locations. Neo was getting curious and silently got out of her seat and walked behind Emerald as if she was going somewhere.

Only for Swallow to watch as she created a copy of herself who walked away as Neo sneaked up behind Emerald. Roman looked right Neo, before signing at his side with one hand. _"What are you doing?"_

 _"_ _I'm just curious on why Emerald isn't listening,"_ Neo signed, _"she's looking at pictures of her boyfriend."_

Roman nearly spat out his coffee, before looking at Neo who was glaring at him. "Yes Roman, twenty thousand must be a lot to you, now right?" Cinder asks as she crosses her arms, before looking right at the orange haired man.

"Hey, I nearly choked on this coffee is all, besides what does this mean for me and my people?" Roman questions as he crosses his arms.

"It means we go to phase two, which I believe will be in two months' time." Cinder says as she crosses her own arms, "and phase two involves robbing a couple of automated droids that are about to enter production and be sent from Vale. Funny thing is we got a coupon for free cargo pods, Swallow would you like place your name on the mission board?"

"No." Swallow says as everyone turns to him, flabbergasted.

"Huh, did I hear you correctly birdman, you just say no?" Roman was stunned as he looked at his colleague for past two years, one that almost got his empire twice as rich. "You know this might be a lot of money, right?"

"I'm exiting the business in the next month." Everyone looked at him, even Emerald and Neo. "I'm too tired of doing these missions. It's time Swallow hanged up his mask and enjoyed life before it gets prematurely taken."

"Excuse me," Cinder growls, "but I don't think you get it Swallow…this is a lot of money. I'm talking much more than what you usually make, and if you want a specific day it's on a Saturday."

"What are we talking here…three hundred thousand?" Swallow asks, "because even that's too little. You think this will be like all the other robberies, like the train? No, these droids are going to be too guarded, too backed up by manpower, it'll be walking into a grindhouse."

"I was going to offer you one million Liens." Cinder says, "and Emerald here could go with you."

"I may make it out alive, but Emerald there would be gunned down…you think they're just going to guard these droids with basic grunts? You're a fool, that is going to have Winter Schnee, General Ironwood, and possibly Beacon's elite on the boat…I'm not doing it." Swallow gets up, "no amount of money is worth dying over."

Swallow starts walking out, before Roman watches Cinder flare her aura and he gets up. "Hold up, I'll talk to him."

Swallow was outside of the warehouse when Roman came running out, "Swallow, swallow!"

"What is Roman," Swallow looked at his boss, "I told you I'm done…if there is no work to be had prior to this then I'm finished."

"I understand that, but please listen to me." Roman moved in front of him, "me and you have been good friends for the last two years. Listen, I know I haven't paid as good as I should have but think about it. One million Liens can buy you a house and land and you'll never have to worry about a thing again."

"I got in this business because I was desperate Roman, you of all people should understand that, before me you were on the verge of collapse." Swallow states, crossing his arms, "and now after me you're sitting pretty with shady characters."

"Listen to me, that mint haired girl in there, Emerald. I could give a fuck less what happens to her, but if you leave she'll be sent on that mission alone…and she will die. Swallow, I know that you aren't one to say no to someone's life and I'm not holding it over you. However, please consider this, if Emerald dies then Cinder will back out and my empire collapses again. You can't just walk away from everything you helped build up over the last two years, so please consider the offer." Roman said to him as he came up with reasons for Swallow to stay, the man looked at him…he seemed afraid.

"Be honest with Roman, this wasn't a partnership…she forced you hand."  
"Yes…the woman she works for, she's some otherworldly thing powerful. She'll slaughter anyone who stands in her way, I'm begging you right now if you leave and this missions fails…they'll be after me and Neo and everyone else."

Swallow looks at Roman, before sighing. "Fine."

"Splendid, come on back in then, we'll discuss what is going to be done during this mission a couple of months from now." Roman motions for him to follow, but Swallow stops him.

"Roman, if it came down to a choice between dying to be free or living to be a slave…what would you pick?" Roman looked at Swallow and realized the question.

The orange haired man stands there as Swallow walks back into the warehouse, sighing, the man just looks up to the moon. _"To lie, cheat, and steal has always been my modis operanti. However, I'm afraid if I go this route on this one…I'll die. Cinder and that demon she works for will just kill me when they're done with me…I must find a way to prevent that…"_

* * *

Naruto was ringing Emerald's scroll, when she answered. _"Hey Naru."_

"Hey Em, are you busy right now?"  
 _"Not really, why what's up?"  
_ "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date?"  
 _"Whatever happened to 'friendly outings'?"  
_ "Hehe, well we can keep calling them that if you like."  
 _"Oh no, that's fine, I like the word date…rolls off the tongue better."  
_ "Heh, well um, how about I come by around nine o'clock and we catch a movie?"  
 _"That's fine, um, where do you want to meet at…the market?"  
_ "That's fine."  
 _"Alright, see you then."_

Naruto heard the line go dead, before walked around the house before seeing Dukang with his blonde highlights walking around. He was stumbling around before Naruto took hold of him, "you okay little buddy?"

"I'm sleepy." Dukang mutters as he falls asleep in Naruto's arms.

Naruto chuckles as he walks over to the boy's room before placing him inside of his bed, covering him up. The blonde rubbed the boy's head tenderly before sighing and walking out of the room. Everyone had gone to bed early, and he got on his scroll.

"Ayame?"  
 _"Yo, Naruto, what up?"  
_ "Can you watch the kids for me for a few hours…I got a date around nine."  
 _"Not a problem, I'll be there shortly, I just need to close down the noodle shop."  
_ "Alright, I'll see you then."

Naruto walked into the kitchen, sitting down, he felt anxious before looking around and sighing. Clutching his hands, Naruto saw that it was around seven thirty so he walked outside to see the setting sun.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pulled out his staff before extending it to its length. He sighed, walking towards a tree stomp before sitting down on it in a lotus position. Concentrating, Naruto began his daily training of trying to absorb natural aura, since his fight with Sasuke and in his spare time he had been practicing it.

Slowly Naruto could see the green aura in mind flow towards him, but it was like a small dying breeze rather than the rush he needed to enter it quickly like Sasuke. However, after sitting there for ten minutes, Naruto opened his eyes to reveal golden irises. He saw through them, looking around the forest, he could see the life energy of little birds and rabbits all around him.

Relaxing, Naruto got up, before clutching the staff. He walked over to a couple of trees before spinning the staff around before slashing at the tress with it. The trees groaned and creaked as they fell, before Naruto spun the staff around some more.

 _"_ _Wukong's staff is a magnifier of my powers, with it I can probably stand toe to toe with Ox. I feel like Sasuke is still alive…and Nagato…"_ Naruto clenched his hands around the staff, _"I need to learn why he betrayed someone who raised him since he was baby…there's still so many questions left unanswered…"_

Naruto cocked back his fist before punching the down tree, but stopped when he saw a flash of gold inside of his aura and a massive surge of power. Smiling, he looked at Sun Wukong's staff before seeing some of its energy flow into him.

 _"_ _If I can master Sage Mode before going on that mission…I can make sure Emerald and I live…but in the end, all that matters is me getting back to my family."_ Naruto clutched his hand around the staff, _"and I'll do that no matter what."_


	18. Chapter 18

Walking along with man in a nice suit, the blonde was pointing out forest lines and boundary poles. "This where the southside ends, as you can see there is a small little river that flows through here. I thought about trying to siphon it by digging a small trench back towards the rather big clearing and using that as a small cropland, but with the new job offer and all I'm thinking of moving to Patch."

"Well, Mr. Uzumaki I'm not going to lie to you this land is incredibly valuable, it's pristine, it's fertile by the looks of it. I'm sure someone who has raised themselves up on the farming trade will definitely snatch this place up in the heartbeat for the right price." The man said, his brown hair waiving in the wind.

"So, Mr. Umino how much do you think my house and land is valued at right now?"  
"Easily a shot in the dark, about eight hundred thousand Liens."  
"Wow, that's more than I thought, what's making it worth so much?"  
"Well the sellers' market is increasing prices by ten percent, so normally this place would sell for around seven hundred and twenty thousand Liens."  
"That would still be a good price considering that I could find a place in Patch with some land with that kind of money."  
"You planning on finding a wife anytime soon for that land hahaha."

Naruto and Umino both laughed at the statement, before Naruto gave a sigh. "It's hard to let go of this place though, considering the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I've put into it."

"I completely understand, anyway I can put this up on market right now and we'll probably have a buyer within fourteen days." Umino says as he types a few things into his tablet, "anyway Mr. Uzumaki once there is a buyer you'll have a month to remove yourself off property according to Vale law."

"Understood." Naruto concurs as he and Naruto walk back towards the house.

"So, Mr. Uzumaki this concludes our business, and I will send you listing options for you fill based on housing or land available on Patch. You must have that filled out and returned to me within five business days in order me to make this a timely as possible." Umino tells him as he finished tapping on his tablet, "anyway you have blessed day and I'll be on my way."

"Oh, Mr. Umino one more thing, do you know any good dealerships around the area?" Naruto inquires as he walks with the man, "I've been looking to get me a vehicle."

* * *

 _"_ _Why?! Every time I go to do something for myself!"_ Naruto mentally screams as he runs towards a burning building, _"every-single-time!"_

Naruto blows past the LEOs and jumps through the brunt down door, _"and they have no faunus officers so they can't hear the lady upstairs screaming for help through the smoke."_ Naruto formed a Rasengan in his hand before smashing through a couple of the floors as he jumped up, he landed on the floor where the screaming was coming from.

Naruto ducked into the room where the woman was, she was curled up in ball on the floor, "hey lady c'mon I got you!"

Naruto rolled his eyes when she ran over to him, glomping him almost as he took hold of her only to hear the ceiling of their floor creak a little. _"Barrier!"_ Naruto screams mentally as the building comes down on top of them and forms wind around the barrier.

Jumping up, Naruto held tout onto the woman as they smashed the ceiling of the floor and into one more floor before Naruto saw smoke and daylight. He saw the crowd screaming thinking that he and the woman had died, that was until he landed in the middle of them using Qingqong to control his descent.

The LEOs ran over to look at the woman, Naruto himself had small cuts and bruises on his arms from where he focused most of his aura upwards to 'muscle' through the building. Sighing, Naruto watched as a rather pudgy officer came up to him.

"You okay there, sir?" The man inquires, "you have a few cuts on your arm."

"I'm fine, just check on the woman." Naruto says as he takes a seat and takes a deep breath after being forced to hold his and nearly choke on his way in fighting the woman, "please just check on her I'll be fine."

The pudgy officer nodded before walking off, a man came and gave Naruto a water bottle before he chugged some of it. "Thank you…" Naruto breathed as he just sat there, taking deep breaths before getting up.

Some of the crowd were clapping while others were focused on getting some of the people to medical assistance, Naruto looked at the building before sighing. _"That was close…"_

* * *

Naruto was walking towards a dealer ship affectionally called ' _The Motor House'_ and saw a wide arrange of vehicles in the front of the dealership. Walking into it the blonde took notice of a red sleek looking motorcycle that almost looked like the one Taiyang's eldest daughter Yang affectionally owned.

The differences were that it was easily a two-seater, plus it looked like it had a much sleeker design. Naruto looked at the price tag, which was around forty thousand Liens and smirked. He may have to take Emerald's advice on vehicles

The blonde walked up to a salesman, and smiled. "Hey there sir, I was wondering about this motorbike over here."

"Oh sure, you have a valid driver's license and identification?" Naruto nodded as he opened his wallet and pulled the two cards out needed. The man scanned them, both coming up clean as he looked at him nodded and motions for him to follow.

"So, what's this baby called?" Naruto inquires as he and the man walk over to the motorcycle.

"That's a Mistralian X-twenty-one with a plasteel frame, it's durable in case you crash. The motorbike itself is a little pricy, but the seats are made of water and sun proof fiber. The windshield has the latest in glass based screens for LSG (Land Safety and Guidance.) systems and with this you actually can get the passenger carrier that can go besides it." Naruto rubbed his chin at the seller's information spill, and looked at him.

"What's the warranty cover and how long does it last?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms, pondering over the bike now.

"The warranty is a ten year, with coverage on all should any mechanical problem occur. The producers of this are Mistralian based so they usually give strong guarantees on their work. This bike was actually newly shipped and is one of their new designs."  
"What's the top speed?"  
"Do you want that in the metric system or imperial?"  
"Imperial."  
"One hundred and fifty miles an hour, the on-board system will slow it down automatically in heavy traffic areas as well."  
"Does it have any storage compartments?"  
"Yes, it has a limited space for like few groceries, or if you have a significant other some stuff to find a place around Vale to quickly picnic?"  
"You wouldn't have a place in mind, would you?"  
"Actually, yes, I do, the upper docks at Upper Vale has an open field near the shoreline…perfect spot."  
"Do you think I can get this right now?"

The man whipped out the key from his pocket, "depends if you have the forty here and now."

Naruto smirks handing the man his scroll, before the man smirked as well. "We got a test track in the back if you want to try it out."

* * *

Naruto revved the engines up on the bike before doing a small burnout and then launching forward, the dealer watched as the boy rolled fast around the first bend revving if it up even more as he increased the throttle and passed the man at blistering speeds.

The blonde had become a red blur, quickly rounding the track a second time, maintaining perfect balance. Coming around a third time, Naruto stopped as he popped a front wheelie and smirked at the man under the helmet. "Probably the best purchase I made for myself ever."

"Yes indeed, but remember when the passenger carrier is attached the top speed gets cut down to seventy miles an hour. Plus, normal highway traffic speeds are only at best eighty, but however if you decide to race on a track this may actually be the best choice for you."

"Well, I'm still taking it." Naruto said as he got off and kicked the holder in place. "besides I've driven bikes before when I was younger…last time however I had a bad accident."

"Oh, that's terrible, well sir is there any other things you wish to check out?" Naruto nodded, and chuckled a little bit. "Well…I wanted to talk about your minivans outside. You see I have a lot of brothers and sisters, and I take them out to events sometimes."

"Hmm, well that sounds like you're a good brother." The salesman said as he chuckled a little bit, "we got a few used minivans for less than ten grand."

"I'll have a look at those, and hang on a second." Naruto got out his scroll and called Ayame.

"Hey Ayame, you busy right now?"  
 _"No, not really, rather a slow day…what's up?"  
_ "Do you know how to drive?"  
 _"Duh, I've lived in Vale for the last ten years and you've seen me drive my car out to your house."  
_ "I meant drive like you've got sense."  
 _"Oh ha-ha-haa, yes Naruto, what do you need?"  
_ "Well I'm at _The Motor House_ and I'm picking up two vehicles…"  
 _"Naruto what are you doing spending so much money!"_

"I'm fine, I'm fine, my house got appraised today over eight hundred thousand Liens. I'm going to moving out in about two months, the bank has agreed to withhold anymore mortgage payments needed since I agreed to pay the difference left when I sell the house. Plus, it gives me a vehicle for me and the family to drive around in all over Patch…and embarrassing Aoi and Ji in front of girls" Naruto shamelessly rubs his head as he laughs, "and I was wondering if you would drive the van back to my house?"

 _"_ _Fine…"_

* * *

Aka and Li ran outside when they heard a loud noise before looking on as their brother and aunt pulled into a clearing in the front yard. "Woah, holy crap Naruto what is that!" Aka yells as she points to the bike.

"That my dear sister is my newly named Kurama-one, I even went had the nine-tailed fox painted on myself." Naruto adds in, "and that thing Ayame is driving is what we're going to be using when we get to Patch. Patch is mostly open country roads anyway, plus Patch has a very low Grimm population."

"Wow, can I ride Naruto, please!" Li begs as she runs up and hops on the bike with Naruto.

"Hahaha, maybe…" Naruto tells her before kicking the holder down and getting off with Li in his arms, "but I got to take Ayame back to her eatery first since she's here on her lunch."

"Alright, oh and Gama and Dukang have acted good all day." Li said and Naruto turned to eye Aka, "and of course sis is being sis."

Rolling her eyes Aka walked over to the bike, looking at it, "it looks sweet Naruto…" Aka says as she looks at her brother, "can I get ride on it too?"

"Depends on who gets the most chores done first, tomorrow I'll take you all for a spin on it." Naruto tells them, before walking over to Ayame and getting the minivan keys from her. "Alright Ayame, care to ride with me?"

* * *

"Wohoo!" Ayame screams as Naruto slams the throttle forward which made engine rev up as they got onto the highway.

Ayame was wearing the blue helmet Naruto had bought along with his red one, "Kurama is the bomb!" Naruto says as he ducks past a vehicle as the automatic slow down system kicks in.

"Like I said, best purchase for myself…ever." Naruto says while taking a deep breath as he throttled the bike as they entered traffic, "so Ayame what do you think of me calling it Kurama-one?"

"I think it's frigging awesome, but Naruto, are you seriously going to take Aka and Li out for a spin on this thing?" Naruto looked behind to stare at Ayame and smiled.

"Yeah, of course, I'm going to be careful though." Naruto popped a wheelie much to Ayame's surprise, "but are already know who and what you're capable of! Wohoo!"

Ayame and Naruto both laughed as Naruto sped onto the exit, and down to the market districts.

* * *

"Brother, my brother, tell me what are we fighting for. We got to end this war, we should love one another, oh can't we just pretend this war never began, we can try-aahaha, brother my brother." Naruto sang into the mic at a karaoke bar as soft guitar music strummed in the background.

Emerald was sitting at a table, watching Naruto while humming to the music.

"It's kind of crazy to cause such pain, our foolish fight makes act this wa-aaahy." Naruto continued as his voice cracked a little bit, making him blush in embarrassment.

The music was cut off, before Naruto's score came up, he hadn't even made it past twenty percent of the song before bowing his head and walking off. "See, I told you I can't sing Em." Naruto playfully jabs at Emerald as he takes his seat back across from her.

"I thought it was fine," Emerald said as she adjusted her clothing.

She had chosen to wear a pair of blue jeans while wearing a coat since it was kind of cool outside and Naruto had told her to grab a coat. "So, Naruto, why the sudden call? You said you had something to show?"

"Well…" Naruto smiles as he nervously chuckles, "promise you won't get mad?"

"Why would I get mad, what did you do?" Emerald asks as she looks at him.

"How about I show you, come on." Naruto offered his hand and Emerald took it as they walked out of the karaoke bar.

Naruto and her walked over to a red motorbike.

"I wanted to know to know if you wanted to take a ride with me tonight, just around the city for a little bit?" Naruto watched Emerald's eyes light up a little bit.

"This is sick Naruto, holy crap, that's an awesome black painting of a nine-tailed fox too!" Emerald was praising the bike as she walked around observing it, "wow…"

She turns around and Naruto tosses her a helmet, "I don't know if this counts as a strange date or a romantic one…really I'm not aiming for both tonight. I'm just aiming to enjoy the nightly air of spring."

"I find it romantic in a way, and yes I'd love to take a ride with you." Emerald says as she hops on behind Naruto and holds him tight.

Naruto started up the bike before balancing as he got it ready to go, "hang onto me okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." Emerald chuckles before he starts to get going.

* * *

Naruto and Emerald screeched down a lonely highway, the cool wind whipped at them as Naruto drove the bike down the road. Emerald rested her head on his back as she looked up at the stars, and smiled. She couldn't help it when she felt her heart beating warmly in her chest.

Looking up into the sky she saw some shooting stars before Naruto slowed the bike down a little to get off on an exit. "No!" Emerald almost yells making Naruto get back on the road, "I want to continue this for a little bit longer."

"Aren't you worried you might fall asleep?" Naruto asks her, before she smiles inside of her helmet.

"If I do, I know I can trust you." Naruto smiled as he got perfect balance to where he could reach down and give Emerald's hand a tight squeeze before going back to the handlebar.

* * *

Driving around for two more hours, Naruto came to an exit and got off the road, his bike revving down as he came to refueling station and got off the bike. He watched as Emerald slowly woke up, "you woke up sleepy head?"

"Where are we?" Emerald asks as she looks around, "I was having a good nap."

"Hehe, well we're actually at a refueling station I got to fill up Kurama here, and I'll be off to take you home." Emerald watched as he took off his helmet, she saw the sweat pouring off him since he must've used his aura to keep himself awake.

However, the way he seemed to glisten in the light was magical in a way.

"Naruto…" Emerald took of her helmet, "you have no idea how happy I've been for the last month…ever since we started this."

"I can honestly say I feel the same way, Emerald..." Naruto walks over to her, cupping her chin slightly with his hand. "I think you should know something about me…and I hope this doesn't make you run away."

"Oh, really what's that?" Emerald asks as she looks at him in his eyes.

"I'm actually, well, I actually have six kids that I'm trying to raise…" She looked surprised before he chuckled, "they ain't mine biologically. Sheesh, I'm not a playboy nor am I the last member of some stupid clan somewhere."

Emerald wipes her brow in a joke, "whew, I was about to say…wait…you said six?"

"Yes," Naruto replied, "but two of them treat me like I am their father…want to see pictures of them?"

"S-sure," Emerald nervously stuttered as she walked besides Naruto as he got out his second scroll and pulled up photos.

"Oh, my that one with green bangs is so adorable…oh…what's her name?"  
"Gama, she's turning six in three months. She loves these honey covered candies and she's probably the shyest one of all of them."

Naruto and she took a seat on the walkway, before he scrolled to Dukang.

"So, the two other girls besides him, they're sisters to you right?"  
"Yeah, and I'm their big brother. The redhead's Aka and the blonde is Li, they're twins. Li can cook and she has a divine given talent for it…I thought about letting Ayame take her on as an apprentice chef next year even when we move to Patch. Aka here is a mean spirited, and Dukang the boy getting highlights is the second one that regards me as a father…he's a talented artist."  
"I can tell, I see some of his photos of his drawings, they're almost professional."  
"He's a prodigy, then I got two other boys right here Aoi and Ji."  
"Are they related?"  
"Nope, they're just really good brothers. They're both in Huntsman training right now in Signal, the school I'm going to be teaching here soon. Taiyang the main teacher there is offering me a job as a teaching assistant for six months and then he'll let me be a teacher full time."  
"That must be your dream…right?"

Naruto nodded, and looked Emerald. "My dream is to one day have look at these kids and see them prosper. They had it rough in life, and I give my blood, sweat, and tears making sure they'll have it made when they're older. But, one day, when I'm older I want to be able to settle down myself…with a wife…and have kids of my own."

Emerald looked at him, he seemed almost sad as he said it. "You okay?"

"Yeah…it's just…" Naruto felt some tears drop from his eyes, "I…can't stop thinking about them ya know. My parents and the people helped me to get where I am today. There is nothing in this life that I can do that will ever be able to repay them for their own kindness…"

"I think you're wrong." Naruto snapped his head looking at Emerald.

"I think you've done plenty, you've sacrificed your youth and took upon yourself a responsibility that no one can truly have asked anyone to do…" Emerald smiled, "and I respect that from you…Naruto."

"Emerald…" Naruto breathed as he looked at her before smiling, "that's probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Hehe, that's supposed to be my line Naruto." Emerald lightly punches him arm after getting on his hands free, "now c'mon you have to take me home remember?"

Naruto chuckled before getting up, he took her hand before they walked inside of the store.


	19. Chapter 19

Naruto was scrolling through his scroll as he looked at available houses inside of Patch, it has been two weeks since his last date with Emerald, he had told her that he was going to be very busy come the next month so it may leave little time to do things together.

Sighing, Naruto looked through all the properties available that were at least thirty miles away from Signal Academy where he would be training to become a teacher, and he was also confident that he'd pass basic tests to make sure he was up to par with most of the teachers there as well.

The blonde was currently inside of his house as he walked around, his property got bought within two days, it was for the exact amount of eight hundred thousand Liens, and Naruto was enthusiastically now searching for housing on Patch.

Naruto stopped scrolling when he came upon three houses with at least ten acres of land, half the size of the land he owns now, but the houses themselves were very spacious. Naruto noted one having six bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Gone would be the days of him worrying about someone being in the bathroom and locking the door on exit!

Naruto noted that other houses had similar sizes, but this one was the only one to have six bedrooms, and so he flipped through the images of the interior noting that the mix of colors that house was painted. He would have to get the interior repainted, but that wasn't going to be hard. He could that himself all in a day and still have time for lunch.

However, the good things about the bedrooms, they seemed to be positioned mostly down stairs, save for one Master Bedroom, that was very big. Naruto guess-estimated it to being around the size of his current house's living room, which was about four hundred square feet.

The house itself was over three thousand square feet easy, but he planned to read up on it later. Naruto noted the porch at the front of the house, while also noting the balcony deck it had on the second floor which overlooked a small river running through a clear plain.

The house value was actually a very expensive six hundred thousand Liens, but Naruto could easily pay that in full, plus he heard utility costs were low in Patch. Being on average two hundred Liens for water and Electricity.

Naruto smiles as he calls the number before finally getting an answer, _"Scarlatina Houses R' Us, my name is Auburn how may I help you!"_

Naruto went white in the face, he twitched slightly, before speaking up. "O-oh he-hey I saw your listing on Houses R' Us and I was wondering if I could schedule a home visit?"

 _"_ _Oh sure, sure! Can I get your name and an ideal time?"  
_ "Naruto Uzumaki, is there any way I can meet you tomorrow at the property around three'ish?"  
 _"Certainly sir, we'll see you then."  
_ "Alrighty then…"

Naruto took a deep breath as the phone hung up, the blonde gets up before stretching a little bit and relaxing. This was the first time he hadn't been busy in days, getting miscellaneous things packed up and all.

"Gama, Dukang!" Naruto calls out to the house, "come here for a second."

"Yes papa?" Dukang asks as he walks into the room with Gama.

"You guys hungry?" Naruto inquires as they both nod their head, "good."

"Aka, Li, c'mon!" Naruto calls out as he grabs the van keys, "I'm taking us all out to eat!"

"Ayame's is closed right now!" Aka says loudly as she comes running down the hallways, "where would we be going?"

"I don't know!" Naruto excitingly says as he rubs the back of his head, "but we're doing a family event!"

"Yay!" Li cheers as she picks both Dukang and Gama. "Family Event-Family Event!"

Naruto gets Li and Aka into the back seats before moving towards other row of back seats and placed Gama and Dukang inside. It was going to be the first time he has ever drove his family somewhere so it would be an experience for everyone.

* * *

Naruto was driving along the highway, looking back at the kids, he saw that they were all each doing something. Dukang and Gama were playing paddy-cake, Aka was on her scroll as she looked up various videos and this included a news article about a mech running rampant along the highway not too long ago.

Li was busy looking at the City of Vale which looked majestic from the highways vantage point. Naruto himself was currently focusing on driving while trying to call Ayame, the phone finally picked up and there he heard Ayame before answering him. _"What's up?"_

"Oh, nothing much, me and the family are rolling into Vale now. Was wondering if you'd like to join us, I could be at your location in five minutes tops." Naruto tells her as he takes an exit towards the market, "and I still have plenty of room in this van…it's just that Aka and Li may have to share it."

 _"_ _Sure, I'll tag along, have you talked Emerald about coming along?"  
_ "Actually I was going to call her after I called you, she lives in Mid Vale so it'll be a minute's drive till we get to her apartment."  
 _"Oh my Naruto, you know where she lives…uh oh, did you finally get lucky?"  
_ "Ayame…you and I both know that's still some long ways off."  
 _"How many dates have you all had now, six?"  
_ "Five, two tea shops, a steak place, your place, and actually two weeks ago on my motorcycle."  
 _"Oh, so you went to that karaoke bar then, hey why didn't you send me an invite to it!"  
_ "Because you and I both know we can't sing to save our lives, we rhyme, and that's about as far as we go musically…speaking off…you get the new Killer Bee album?"  
 _"It's lit fam…"  
_ "Ayame…never again…anyway I better get off here and call Em."

 _"_ _Em?"_ Aka perked up as well as the others.

 _"_ _That's fine, see you in about three minutes, I'm just going to go in my sweatpants and hoodie. It's cool outside tonight."  
_ "Yeah, I got the heating on here in as well, so won't be too cold hahaha."  
 _"You better call you girlfriend then!"  
_ "Alright bye."

"Naruto…" Aka speaks, "who is Em?"

"Oh, Em…she's a really great person that I've been talking to you."  
"Wait, you got a girlfriend and didn't say anything to anyone."

Li coughs slightly, before Aka turned to her. "Dear sister you betrayed me!" Aka whines comically as she looks at Li who had an evil smile on her face

"I thought you'd be happy Aka." Naruto says as he keeps his eyes on the road, "is there something wrong with me picking who I like?"

"You could've said something to me!" Aka says crossing her arms, "besides what's the worst I was gonna do? Run her off if I didn't like her."

"How would you even do that?"  
"Ji and Aoi are afraid of me for a reason Naruto!"  
"Oh…yeah, they did mention something about a cleaver…wait what did you do?"  
"Aoi and Ji were talking about how was crabby one day and Ji made a comment about my hair being a sort of meter for my anger."  
"Well, in their defense your hair stands up when your angry."

"Aka has an aura!" Li tells Naruto, who stops the van right in front of Ayame's.

"Since when!" Naruto turns to Aka as he puts the van in parking, "and why haven't you told me?"

"I got it that day I threw the cleaver at Ji…and well…I just…" sighing Aka activated her aura which was a bright pink in color, "I…don't like the color it's embarrassing."

"Oh, twins what am I going to do with you…" Naruto palmed his face as he took a deep breath, "when we move to Patch I'll be able to start training you if you like then…and Li what about you? Do you have an aura now?"

"Nope, and if I ever do I hope it's night bright pink!"  
"Why you little!"

Naruto had to reach back and separate Li and Aka as Aka attempted to lunge at her sister, her hair was raised up as her pink aura flared around her. "Pretty!" all of them stop to see Gama pointing at Aka, "pretty pink, pretty lights!"

"Gama…" Aka sighs, "yes…pretty pink…pretty li-aah-lights…"

A knock on the side door, and Naruto saw Ayame standing where Aka's side was. "Can I come in?"

Naruto unlocked the door and let it slide open as Ayame stepped to sit herself between Aka and Li, and she looked at everyone before looking at Aka who still had her aura activated. "Um, Naruto did you know that Aka has an aura…"

"Oh yes, we know." Naruto says as he turns to face Aka, "and regardless if she has to swallow her pride about the color…I'm proud of her."

Aka blushed slightly and looked away, "whatever…"

"Love you too, spitfire." Naruto teases, before sighing, "I still have to call Emerald."

Naruto gets his scroll, calling Emerald, and before long she picks up. _"Hey Naru!"_

"Hey Em…um, you busy right now?"  
 _"No, I'm actually just now getting out of the shower, I've been bored for the last two weeks."  
_ "Sorry, I just had a lot going on for the house has got a buyer and tomorrow I'm going to be flying to Patch to look at a house I found…plus I've been training a lot to improve my abilities ya know."  
 _"I completely understand…that's actually what I just got doing today, um…so are you in town?"  
_ "Yep, and I was wondering if you want to join us for dinner?"  
 _"Us?"  
_ "Me, the kids, and Ayame."  
 _"S-sure, I'll be ready when you get here…do you have any idea where we'd be going?"  
_ "Nope."  
 _"Hahaha, well I guess we'll let them pick eh?"  
_ "I'm pretty much at their mercy."

Naruto and Emerald laughed together as he smiles. "I'll be there in about five minutes."

"Thought you said it was _minutes' drive_ Naruto." Aka crosses her arms while arching her eyebrow.

"It's a figure of speech, just add on four other minutes when I say that." Naruto says before focusing back on the scroll, "see you in five."

 _"_ _Sure, thing Naru…"_

* * *

Naruto arrived out front of an apartment complex, before seeing Emerald walk down from her apartment and down the building's fire escape before hopping off and landing with grace on her two feet. Walking over to the van, she saw the seat by Naruto was empty and walked around to get in.

Naruto unlocked the door, smiling as she entered, before Gama's eyes lit up a little bit looking at the girl's mint green hair and dark red eyes as she turned to see Ayame. "Hey everyone…my name's Emerald."

"So, you're the mystery girl Em!" Aka almost yells as she points at her and had fire in her eyes as she turned to Naruto, "how could you keep her a secret big brother!"

"Aka…" Naruto sighs, "I never did…because you never asked."

"Ha!" Li yells as she crossed her arms, "argue with that."

"Whatever…" Aka rolls her eyes and faces away, "I'm Aka by the way."

"My name is Li," Li extended her hand out to the girl and she shook it, "I'm Aka's older twin."

"I'm Emerald and I'm your brother's special friend." Emerald says as she winks a little when Naruto turned away from everyone to switch gears.

"Hehe," Li chuckles, "Gama and Dukang are in the back. Say hi guys, don't be shy, she's pretty nice so far."

Dukang waived at her, smiling a little bit, he was shy now with rose dusting his cheeks, "M-my name's Du-Dukang miss Emerald."

"Don't say miss, no reason to be formal but it shows that Naruto raised you right…" Emerald chuckles, "I was kind of scared that you'd be a lady killer with them golden bangs…you may have Naruto beat."

"Hey!" Naruto whines a little and chuckles, "you don't like my blonde hair?"

Emerald laughs a little before looking at Gama who seemed mesmerized at her, in fact Emerald took note of the faunus girl's hair which had mint green bangs and tips. "Oh, hey there cutie, you must be Gama. You're much cuter in person than in your photo."

"T-t-thank you," Gama blushes a little and faces away, "you're very pretty too."

"Aww," Ayame chuckles, "she's shy…so Naruto where do you think the kids might like?"

"Probably somewhere indoors, can't really think of anywhere though." Naruto said as he rubbed his chin, "you got any ideas Em?"

"Well…actually yes, there's this place just twenty minutes up the road from here in Inner Vale that has a sort of play area for kids." Emerald tells him, "they also got good food too."

"Sounds like a plan, you all agree?" Naruto turned around, watching the kids minus Aka give a thumb's up.

* * *

Naruto and Emerald managed to get some alone time as Ayame took over watching the kids and make Li of all of them stop pestering the two the most. Naruto was currently standing on the balcony of the eatery with Emerald as they both looked out onto the street.

"You know Emerald…there was a time not too long ago I felt alone walking these streets by myself." Naruto tells her before he smiled, "I'm really glad I met you…and sorry if I sort of threw this on you."

"You didn't, stop saying sorry about things like this. Remember what I said at the refueling station, you're probably the kindest person I've ever met." Emerald tells him before she sighs, "but Naruto can I ask a question?"

"Hmm?"  
"Why haven't you tried to kiss me?"  
"Well…it's just…I…did you really want to be kissed?"  
"Honestly at the refueling station when you cupped my cheek that was probably the best time...my heart was racing so much, and I was hoping you would…"  
"S-oh…well, honestly Em I never really got taught about dating much. Everything I do is on instinct and I was scared that I might pushing you into something."  
"What's that?"  
"Pushing you out of your youth, being honest Emerald, I don't really have much time for things that our age group does. Plus, I never really been around people that dated so this is, everything right down to the basics is new to me…and I never knew when the proper time to kiss someone was…or make it official…you understand?"

Emerald looked at him, before she started laughing, she lightly punched his arm. "You're so adorable ya know…be lucky…because that's your best quality." She says jokingly as she places her hand on his that was on the railing of the balcony. "But, being honest Naruto…I have a job coming up that's very dangerous…and I want to know something…"

He turned to her, "would you remember me if something happened to me?"

 _"_ _Emerald…"_ Naruto looks at her before smiling, "Nothing is going to happen to you."

"How can you be so sure?" Naruto smiles at her question, "this is serious Naruto!"

"I know," Naruto chuckles, "I…just wanted you to know that I did get something for you…because I know our line of work is dangerous in all since it pushes us outside the walls of Vale sometimes."

Naruto reached into his pocket, pulling a small necklace with a jade stone on it. "This belonged to a dear friend of mine before she passed away, it brings good luck…" Naruto says as he hands it to Emerald, "and with it I promise you…you'll never be alone and I will there in spirit to protect you."

Emerald slowly took the necklace, noticing that it had drawing of a bird in one of the stones, a drawing of Swallow. _"How could I be so blind!"_ Emerald screams in her head and she looks at Naruto, _"Naruto is the disciple brother that Swallow talked about! Oh…oh my god…I…he's going to freak!"_

"Em?" Naruto waives his hand in front of her as she was blushing bright red, her tan skin turning a deeper brown as she blushed. "Remnant to Emerald Sustrai…this is ground control Uzumaki you okay in there?"

"Hu-huh, oh yeah…yeah…I'm fine." Emerald looks at the necklace before putting it around neck, "it's beautiful Naruto…"

Both looked at each other, before both started lean in towards each other. "Emerald…I…" Naruto mutters as he starts to get close to her, he can feel the heat of her breath on his lips.

"Eww!" Naruto and Emerald turned around to see Dukang and Gama standing there, "papa that's nasty, only birds eat like that!"

Both Naruto and Emerald turned to the kids before they started to laugh, while Emerald's was genuine laughter. Naruto's laughter was mix of anger and strain as he tried to keep from screaming out his frustrations, before looking at Dukang and Gama.

"What's up guys?" Naruto asks as Dukang looks at Gama who pulls out a keychain.

"Oh, what's this?" Emerald said as she knelt as Gama held it out to her.

"A good luck charm I won in a game…I want you to have it." Gama says as Emerald takes it, pocketing it and smiling. "Papa's luck is already too much…I don't want to break it."

 _"_ _Uh huh…"_ Naruto deadpans as he stares at Gama who smiles and walks away with Dukang.

Emerald smiles and turns to Naruto, laughing a little. "Did you think I'd forget?"

"Hu-mumph!" Naruto hums a little bit as Emerald wraps him in a hug before kissing him.

The world just seemed to stop around them as Naruto brought his arms around her as well, before closing his eyes. Both stayed lip-locked for a considerable amount of time before both separated. Both of them looked at each other, smiling as they both leaned on each other's foreheads.

"That was…wow…" Naruto mumbles as he looks right into her eyes.

"You could say that again…" Emerald says as they both looked into each other's soul.

Ayame was standing off to the side with Li and Aka, to the redhead's stoic discredit, she was gushing just as much as her sister Li was. Gama and Dukang were having their eyes covered by Ayame. _"About time a Fox found his Vixen, hehe…good one Naruto you've picked a good one it seems."_

"Naruto…" Emerald mumbles, "promise me something…"

"Hmm?" Naruto mumbles as she looks right at her, "what is it?"

"After you move to Patch, you'll keep seeing me…please." Naruto watched as Emerald had a tear come down her face.

"Emerald," Naruto wiped away a tear away before cupping her face, "you don't even have to ask."

They shared one more kiss.


	20. Chapter 20

Naruto was sitting on a tree stump as he was getting ready to leave for the airfield, he started to time it now. His eyes had the orange form around them, power increasing fivefold as he felt the natural aura reach deep into him, empowering him.

This feeling was slightly addicting, he could see why Sasuke had wanted to steal this technique rather than be taught it, but Naruto knew that to truly master this was to take in nature calmly rather forcefully, he had got told by Shi-Yan that taking it in forcefully may cause nature to strike back against someone being too greedy.

 _"_ _Forty-five seconds…"_ Naruto mentally notes as he opens his eyes, revealing golden irises and he looked around before sighing. _"It's about where I need it, but I can gather unless I'm standing completely still…it leaves me vulnerable…"_

Naruto scrunched his hands up as he takes a deep breath before placing a hand above his head, a swirling of wind formed followed by a screeching noise as a Rasenshuriken formed inside of his palm. It was larger than a normal one, it also bared the occasional golden flare of a different color aura.

It was indication, it was indication that Naruto's sage mode still was nowhere near completion, even if he could enter the perfected state it was quickly gone within two minutes. If he used his techniques it was drained even faster, making it last at most thirty seconds, giving him time to just form two Rasenshuriken and throw them.

The benefits however to him outweighed the time limit and vulnerability. His physical prowess was increased at the very least fivefold. He could probably hold up a tree with one hand easy, throw it, and still pick up another like he hadn't even broken a sweat. His agility was also increased as well as his awareness of things around him.

Everything was increased, his ultra-reflex semblance that allowed him to already sense things heading towards him of ill intent was increased twofold as well. Naruto was a literal walking sensor in this form, not to mention since he entered a perfected form he could draw upon the power of a relic.

As Shi-Yan once told him, only sages, those with silver eyes, and ancient blood could draw upon the power a relic. Naruto luckily had the sage part covered, albeit, if it was a very short-lived form. However, for all these benefits it still had three very big glaring weaknesses that made it almost a last resort.

It's power, although mighty, would leave him exhausted after use.  
It's time limit was at best two minutes, and at worse thirty seconds.  
It's currently required forty-five second charge up that left him very open.

The benefits may outweigh the downfalls of this technique, but it was a slight margin at minimum. Sasuke from Naruto observed, although using an imperfect version of the technique, can hold for more than thirty seconds at his fullest power trying to block out the effects of his Rasenshuriken.

That was a frightening feat, considering the Rasenshuriken was supposed to rip it's targets apart at the molecular level, and yet Sasuke had enough mastery in Senin and Katachi to block out that effect if albeit taking heavy brunt damage.

It was scary to Naruto, how far the gap between both was, but he could play on it. Sasuke always an arrogant, even before he betrayed them all, he would boast about his abilities. Sighing, Naruto exited the form before taking a deep breath.

The other thing he found out is if he had a little bit of sage energy inside of him, deactivating the form nulled the exhaustion afterwards. However, that didn't mean it was a loophole, considering that he had to focus on exiting out of it meaning he couldn't just do it mid-fight.

Taking a deep breath Naruto looked at his scroll, before smiling, it was time for him to go look at his possible new home.

* * *

Emerald stretched and yawned as she woke up in her apartment, she looked around before smiling. Last night was probably the best night she had in a long time, and it was because of her boyfriend. Getting up, she got dressed and walked out to her living room and grabbing her scroll off the charger.

She had two text messages from Naruto, one was early in the morning, probably sunrise. The other was just thirty minutes ago. Opening the first one from the morning Emerald saw that it was a picture from the top of a tree looking at the mountain Glenn.

For all its bad history, the sun rising behind it was giving off a beautiful array of colors like that of a solar rainbow. Smiling, she saw where he had used an editor to write 'Rise and Shine beautiful.' She slightly felt bad that she didn't get up to it, but she shrugged before going to the next text.

 _"_ _Hey Em, I'm going to be heading out to Patch today. Wish me luck, and I'm still tinlging a little bit on my lips lol. Anyway, let me know when you want to go out next time…just the two of us. Xo."_

Emerald chuckled a little bit at his use of lingo, before typing on the scroll. _"Whenever we get back from our jobs that would be nice."_

Stretching she sighed, she had nothing planned out today, and Cinder wasn't really in a talking mood right now. For some reason Cinder had grown more distant from her, was she angry at her spending her life on normal things?

Speaking of normal things, Emerald had an idea, and looked back at her scroll. Going to Neo's face she tapped it, before texting. _"Want to do a girl's night out?"_

Placing the device on the counter she walked over to the fridge, getting out some tea that she had made and poured it inside of a coffe mug and sipped on it. Smiling she had to admit it as well, she still felt a tingle on her lips.

For both of them not kissing anyone before, she thought she was a good kisser…and Naruto…well Naruto probably was the best.

She heard a buzz on her counter, looking over at her scroll, she walked over to it before grabbing it. It was from Neo texting her back, she had a thumb's up symbol as a text. The girl loved using emojis and such, it was a very bad habit.

Roman, well Roman tried but it was like a forty year old learning to type for the first time…it didn't work.

Texting Neo back, Emerald smiled. _"Meet outside of my apartment in an hour? Make a day of it?"_

There was a quick ping, followed by another thumb's up, and Emerald nodded. She contemplated on texting Cinder as well and she if she would like to go out. Cinder was still working on her cover story for her supposed secret assignement that she got from their benefactor, Emerald didn't really care. She also overheard about them recruiting an assassin.

Emerald was by no means abhorred to killing, but she never really liked it. She would play it off if it ever came down to it, but it still disturbed her. She had only taken very few lives in her own, but their faces, those dead eyes haunted her sometimes.

This was prior to her becoming more independent and getting better at her techniques so she wouldn't have to rely on such methods. It made Cinder angry because it meant that Emerald was going soft, and she had.

She had gone very soft, and maybe this was because she was forced to look at herself as vulnerable. Ever since the club she had felt scared going out alone, she shuddered when walking by nightclubs. Sure it was a once in a very unlikely chance of happening again incident, but, the fact remained if it wasn't for Naruto she could've been killed…or worse.

That wasn't what led her to be attracted to him, it was his personality, it was magnetic. He had the smile that seemed to never fade, he had this sense of undying hope, and his loyalty was probably so unfathomable it was almost scary.

However, what probably set her to seek him was how he complimented her. She never saw herself as beautiful, she saw herself as plain…and if guys did want to talk to her they thought she'd be easy or something.

When never having felt the touch of a man, or the lips of one prior to last night…she was very conservative of her dating habits. Yet Naruto came waltzing in with his very unusual, very beautiful, and gracious personality.

He was probably the type of person to give you the shirt of his back, and the pants on his legs if need be as well. However, what finally pushed her to kiss him was the fact that she probably held something so sacred in his life there was no doubt in her mind.

It wasn't a verbal _"I love you"_ but the act of giving he Shi-Yan's necklace of all things was the probably the closest she was going to get at this point. Naruto was probably the son-like apprentice that Shi-Yan had selected to replace her if it happened that she passed away.

On the counter, right next her only picture of her parents was Naruto's necklace she had given him.

That swallow was a symbol of unending freedom, but undying love for his family, and he gave it to her. She picked it up, before putting it around her neck, smiling at how warm it felt. Slowly walking over to the door, she picked up her keys off a stand and exited the apartment.

* * *

Emerald and Neo were sitting in an ice cream shop, of all places Neo wanted to go, she had to go somewhere that made her look like a mascot. Neo had a bright smile on her face she dug into her Neapolitan Sunday.

Emerald herself was enjoying Mango-Orange, the girl made a red swirl with her strawberry syrup when she went for condiments. She had eaten at the base of it, but was looking at the swirl lovingly. She smiled, before relaxing, and looking at Neo who was smiling at her.

The girl somehow, someway, through her semblance pulled a small sign out of thin air. _"You okay there Greens?"_

"Oh, yeah I'm fine Neo, I'm just…thinking of someone."  
 _"Your boyfriend."  
_ "Huh, how did you know?"  
 _"I peek…I'm Sowwy."_

Emerald almost spat up her ice cream, it was so funny that she intentionally spelled it like a child would say, but she looked at her friend. "So, how much do you know about us?"

Neo shrugged, before wiggling her eyebrows, and pulling out a sign. _"Let me know if you need a third color to spice things up."_

Emerald almost roared out in laughter, shaking her head. "We're not that far…we…we…just kissed last night."

 _"_ _How was it?"  
_ "Amazing…"  
 _"Aww…is he a good guy?"  
_ "Mmhmm, and we're probably going to do something after we get done with our next jobs."  
 _"Freelancers F.T.W!"  
_ "Hahaha, yeah, I guess you could write that Neo…I mean say that!"  
 _"Not cool Emmy, not cool Emmy."_

Neo pouted like a small child, crossing her arms, looking right at Emerald, the girl had a large sweat drop roll down her forehead, before rubbing the back of her head…wait…she was rubbing the back of her head?!

 _"_ _Dang you Naruto!"_ She mentally pouted as she went back to crossing her arms, "I'm s-sorry. I'll pay for our ice cream."

Emerald almost slammed her head into the table when Neo smiled, giving her a thumb's up, before ordering two more sundaes with her sign language. Emerald grumbled before feeling a buzz in her pocket, she looked at her scroll noticing it was from Naruto.

Opening it, she was met with him standing on top of a house before she looked at the background and saw the message. _"I'm definitely getting this place! You doin okay?"_

 _"_ _I'm fine, I'm with a friend of mine."  
"Oh cool, I'm getting ready to sign the papers to this place. I should be moved into patch within the next month…after my last job."  
"Cool deal. When will you be back in town?"  
"Tomorrow night, Ayame is going to watch the kids until then, I'm going to be staying at Tai's place for the night. Making it a boy's night out."  
"Lol, I've made a girl's night out."  
"Lol."  
"See you then Naru XO." _

Neo was staring at Emerald who just got done texting her boyfriend, she looked back at Neo, who was smirking. She held a sign with a kissy face drawn on it, before chuckling. Rolling her eyes, Emerald looked around before sighing.

"Wanna go to a nightclub?"

* * *

Naruto and Taiyang were sitting a pub. "So, when I get there they're wanting to test me?"

"Pretty much, it's just a formality. Testing you in your aura, agility, strength, intelligence, fighting capability, weapon construction, and strategy." Taiyang told Naruto as he sipped on his tall glass of beer.

"I can go ahead and say confidently that I can ace Aura, Agility, Strength, Fighting, and strategy. However, I suck at weapon building, I mostly fight with my aura and fists." Naruto sips on his beer, "but I can bring something to the table when it comes to unorthodox fighting styles."

"Heh," Taiyang chuckles, "probably. He'll be fighting you along with every teacher in Signal so you can _earn_ your place in our ranks."

"If I can beat you around they should be easy." Naruto jabs as he finished his beer, "but tell me something Taiyang…and I know it'll be personal…but weren't you married once before?"

"I was many moons ago kiddo," Taiyang sighs, "Yang's mother was another woman. She left her to me because Yang was born with a weak heart…and well she didn't take kindly to _weakness_ as she put it."

"Sounds like a good thing, because Yang from what I hear from you sounds like an Ace."  
"Heh, she's talented in fighting, not so much in the books like her old man."  
"What about Ruby?"  
"Oh she's her mother's daughter, she shares so much in common with her it's crazy. I sometimes wonder if Summer was an alien and just cloned herself…but I know better."

Naruto and Taiyang sighs, before both chuckle a little bit. "Tai, ya know I actually been seeing someone for about two months now…and we finally kissed."

"First kiss?"  
"Yep…"  
"How many dates?"  
"Five."  
"Not bad, I always preached to Yang and Ruby that when dating it's always to be conservative so you can find the one. Well…Ruby took it to heart, Yang…well she's a partyer."  
"Hahaha, so basically you?"  
"Bingo, so what's she like Naruto?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, before chuckling. "Well, she's very beautiful. She has a round face like mine, her eyes are a heavenly deep red that's like considering a forest in the fall. She has a boyish laugh, but that's fine with me, because I think she's cute when she gets shy around me. In fact, ironically, she's the one that kissed me hahaha…I was too scared to kiss her."

"Hahaha!" Taiyang slammed his fist into the table, "oh wow…she sounds just like my Summer in a way. Summer actually was the one kiss me, I couldn't bring myself to kiss her despite already being with another woman prior…it's really weird what love does to someone."

"Yeah…" Naruto smiles before looking around the bar, "but I'm scared that I'll mess it up."

"Have you ever failed at anything you set your mind too?"  
"Not really, it's just a lot of effort and with the kids…"  
"I was raising Yang in diapers at twenty-two when me and Summer got together. It was hard for me to balance a relationship and a newborn. Can't really imagine what kind of balancing you must be doing…"  
"I'm lucky to have a very good friend of mine watching them, her name is Ayame, she's like a big sister to me."  
"I-I'm sorry run that name by that me again…"  
"Ayame, Ayame Ichiraku."

Taiyang eyes slightly widened before he smiles brightly, before chuckling. "Jeez, so Dragonfly actually made her dream come true."

Naruto nearly spat his beer out.

* * *

"So how did you know that I was a Murasaki child?"  
"Simple, your fighting style involving Soshi gave it away."  
"So, that means your…Dolphin!"  
"Hahaha, no-no, I'm Monkey."

Naruto and Taiyang were walking up the road, "so that means you were an orphan?"

"Yeah…my family was killed by Grimm, I was brought in by Shi-Yan when I was eight. I had no talent, Ayame was a year younger me and Dolphin if it's still Iruka was my age. They had talent in fire and water Soshi, but I had no such talent." Taiyang explained as she gripped his fists, smiling as he walked with his hands behind his head. "I however practiced Martial Arts and trained my physical enhancing abilities with Katachi. I'm actually probably the best hand to hand fighter in Remnant…bar none."

"Big talk, but I've fought you."  
"I was holding back."

Naruto and Taiyang stop, before Naruto and he looked around to see that no one was around them. The younger blonde smiled before he brought his hands to his side and smirked. "Round two…" Naruto was quick to throw a kick that Taiyang easily blocked before attempting the same kick on Naruto.

"Flying Swallow martial arts, not bad kiddo, a very balanced martial art."  
"I learned from Shi-Yan herself…brother monkey."  
"So, you're Fox?"  
"Shi-Yan gave me that designation yes."

Both of them stopped, sighing, the mood dying when they brought up their adoptive mother/grandmother.

Naruto sighs, "but unfortunately Hummingbird is dead…Dragon, Ox, and Eagle are traitors."

"I guess that makes our Lady dead as well," Taiyang sighs as he puts his hands in his pockets, "oh well…it's life."

"You've got no will to seek revenge?" Naruto questions him as they resume their walk.

"Life is too short," Taiyang tells him, "plus I've got children of my own. It's greedy to seek out a battle that you may not walk away from when you have those you need to walk back too."

Naruto sighs, before looking at Taiyang. "I lost my family in a Grimm attack as well, I was ten when Shi-Yan took me in…and I did everything I could to repay her kindness."

"Shi-Yan probably never wanted to be repaid. It was never her style to ask for repayment, she always did something out of the kindness of her heart, even when it came to steal for money to provide equipment for training and to keep food in our bellies." Taiyang tells him, "I never forgotten that kindness…in fact I wanted to name Yang, Yan. However, Yang's middle name is Yan, I decided to name my first baby girl Yang because of her bright colors."

"So, Yang Yan Xiao-Long?"  
"Precisely…and I must ask you, what you do…is it to continue the tradition?"

Naruto smiles as he reaches under his coat pocket, holding the Swallow mask. "I do it to make sure those kids of mine have a happy life. I'm only training Aoi and Ji because they want to be Huntsmen. Aka wants to be a Huntswoman one day as well, but Li and Dukang have decided separate paths. Li wants to be a cook…and Dukang is more than likely going to be a big artist one day."

"It's a very touchy subject for you…since…you're probably a witness to her death…how did she die?" Taiyang asks as he looks up at the moon as they walk.

"Ox and Eagle were getting pummeled by her, she was at an old age still a warrior. Shi-Yan-sama had them both beat, until Ox took Sakura…Hummingbird hostage. Shi-Yan surrendered her actual ancient scrolls to Eagle…I was charging in with Sasuke…Dragon to help her. However, when Sasuke kept dashing when I started to form my attack…I realized too late that Sasuke was with Ox and Dragon. With it, I had to watch Sasuke kill two of my most precious people in a single swift strike after Ox slammed Sakura against Shi-Yan." Naruto grips his fists, "death came quickly for Sakura…she was still so weak compared to me, Shi-Yan-sama, and Sasuke. Shi-Yan held them off long enough for me to retrieve Wukong and get out."

Taiyang turned to Naruto, "Wukong! The artifact Wukong is with you right now?"

Naruto slips the staff from out under his sleeve, extending it to a normal staff's length, and twirls it about. "Yes, Wukong is my main go to."

Taiyang whistles, "Wukong judges people before it allows people to take it. Wukong actually judged me unfit to wield and refused to shrink and bend to my commands."

"Wukong chose me in a desperate moment, but me and it became linked after I took it."  
"Have you unlocked its full power?"  
"Unfortunately no, from what I understand only a master of sage energy can fully unlock a relic if it chooses them."  
"That or those with Silver Eyes like with Shi-Yan."  
"Yeah…but, I…felt a surge of power when I first started practicing Sage Mode to combat Sasuke's bastardized version of it."

Taiyang sighed, "so I guess you've been seeking revenge?"

"Not directly, but I swore to myself if we should ever cross paths that I'd make sure that his ended." Naruto tells him, "and if he comes for me I'll have to be ready to defend those I love and cherish most."

Taiyang nods, before looking up at the broken moon. "As long as someone is willing to protect those that they cherish most…this world has hope."


	21. Chapter 21

Everyone was gathered around the table, Cinder walked by smiling as she walked past Emerald. "Alright everyone, it's time to begin…" Cinder says as she clicked on her scroll and out of the table a hologram appeared.

"We're gathered here to let you know that the A.D.N (Atlas Defense Navy) Air Cruiser: Sanquis has been separated from its support ships. This window of opportunity was presented by a large flock of Griffon Grimm displacing its support ships." Cinder tells them as she walks around, "The Sanquis is a prideful star of The Kingdom of Atlas. Boasting all new weaponry, shield tech, and everything you could possibly want in a mobile base."

"You want us to take it?" Roman inquires, "where the hell are we supposed to hide it."

"No, you're not taking it, you're merely there to steal the blueprints a railgun system they've been developing. You all should expect heavy resistance," Cinder says as she turns to Swallow and Snake, "but don't worry. Your exit has been covered, and I've deposited half of your money into your accounts."

"Thanks Cinder/Mam." Snake and Swallow said.

Swallow crosses his arms, looking at everyone, before sighing. "So, this how I end my career, going after blueprints. How high is the cruiser from sea?"

"Two miles up, it's on a low flight path to stay away from any surprise attacks from below. They'll never suspect anything from above, but be warned the area is infested with Grimm." Cinder warns them as she walks over to Snake, "and I think one of us has someone to go home to hmm?"

"Y-yes mam," Snake looks to the side, "that's why me and Swallow cannot fail."

"Oh Emerald, you've been such a loyal follower to me for all these years. I'm quite happy that you've found someone to share your life with, even if it slightly covered in blood." Snake looked away, sighing, "but don't fret…I'm sure he'll never need to know about that."

"Ahem," Swallow coughs as he looks at Cinder, "aren't we supposed to be going?"

Snake and Swallow were both sitting in a Bulwark as they were being flown out at high speeds over the open sea. "Tell me something Snake, what do you plan to do after this mission?" Swallow asks as he sits near the back of the Bulwark.

"I plan to see Naruto and give him a kiss…and tell him that I'm changing careers…"  
"Why? Don't you like being a thief?"  
"Not around Cinder, I don't know if you picked up on it, but she sounded very bitter to me about my happiness with someone."  
"She's petty if that's the case, but don't worry little girl, I'll get you back to your boyfriend no problem."

Snake sighed as she looked at Swallow, "that's the thing, Naruto is someone you should know. He's the one that's following in Shi-Yan's footsteps…your youngest disciple brother."

Swallow tensed up a little bit, "is that so?"

"Yeah, I know so…but there is one more thing. After this, I intend to be done with this life and walk away into the sun for the first time as Emerald Sustrai…not a tool to Cinder." Emerald scrunched her hands up, "she told me that throughout my life that I was to serve her for the kindness she had given me…wade on her hand and foot."

"And that's changed, your loyalty and all?" Swallow questions as he sees Emerald wearing the necklace Naruto had given her.

"Yes." Snake says as she scrunched her hands up, "it's because I know what it means to truly have friends and to know what actual love is…and if I have to walk away from someone who could never see it…then I don't care."

"Heh," Swallow smirks under his mask, "you've answered from the heart I suppose…"

"What will you do after this?" Swallow chuckles at the question, "being serious."

"Go home, live out my days with my family, and seek out the one." Swallow says as he looks right at her before smiling under his mask, "too bad you're already together with someone…I think I have grown attached to you."

"Hehe," Snake chuckles, "well I'm glad I've found Naruto…he's been nothing but genuine with me."

 _"_ _I'll continue to be…after this Emerald…if you're truly done with this life I promise that I'll do anything I can for you."_ Swallow/Naruto thinks as he turns away from her, "we're close."

Roman turned around in his seat as Neo took over piloting, inside of the Bulwark with them were several armed guards to help protect the Bulwark, Neo had Roman's communication systems in the back. "After this Swallow can I see your face and buy a drink for ya? Least I could do after all of you've done."

"Heh," Swallow chuckles once more, "maybe Roman."

They came to their drop point and as the lift opened, both Snake and Swallow got up. The duo stood there before jumping off and began freefalling.

* * *

The storm clouds around gave the ominous feeling around the ship, slowly walking, both looked around before feeling that something was off. Slowly they journeyed through the ripping winds as a storm front came closer to the bridge of the airship.

"Roman, come in…" Swallow pressed his communicator, hearing nothing but static. "Roman."

"What's wrong?" Snake inquires as she looks around, "this ship seems…abandoned."

"Could be that the crew evacuated when the Grimm came aboard, but if that's the case then this'll be easy enough." Swallow says as he kicks open the door, finding the walls of a rotten ship. "Or…this could be a ghost ship…"

"I feel like we were lied to." Snake says as she walks around before bringing her hand to her communicator, "Cinder…you there?"

 _"_ _I am, are you having trouble reaching Roman?"  
_ "Yeah…this ship you sent us to, it's abandoned by the looks of it…but we don't know how it's floating."  
 _"The Sanquis was said by Roman to be still in operation…hmm, watch your back around Swallow."  
_ "Can _Roman_ hear us?"  
 _"No Swallow cannot hear us, this is on a private channel right now. I have a question to ask you Emerald…do you think I've been fair to you?"  
_ "Yes…you helped me stay alive."  
 _"No, I mean as your leader, I've made you sacrifice much. Now that you're finally finding happiness I regret my words to you the other night about trying to make you break it off with that boy."  
_ "It's fine Cinder…we need to stay in radio silence, they could be hearing us."  
 _"Fair enough, good luck little girl."_

"Cinder is able to get a communication's link in here?" Swallow inquires as he looks at Snake who stops and looks at him, "that's interesting."

"Roman was the one that provided us with details of this ship, Cinder is going off his information remember."  
"Basic records, but this place looks abandoned Snake, please do not separate from me."  
"What, are you scared?"  
"Not for me…"

Snake looked at Swallow before sighing, she had trusted him so many times, why would now be any different? Slowly they began walking together, before finding a communications room. Walking into it, the duo noted the aged consoles, before looking around and noticed something odd.

Walking over to it, Swallow knelt, noting the black sludge-like substance on the console, before feeling a very dark aura from it. Noting the aged look of the room, he had to conclude no one had been here for the last decade at least.

"Roman…" Swallow called on his communicator, "you better answer me right now asshole."

* * *

Roman and Neo were flying around the giant airship, noting that it was low flight made it very concealed in the clouds as the storm rolled in. "C'mon guys what's taking you so long…" Roman growls as he flies around as Neo works on his communication equipment a little bit.

Apparently, their signal was jammed by something, she thought it was easily the static electricity in the air due to the storm. If it kept getting worse, including the wind, they may just have to land on the ghost ship.

Neo herself felt very uneasy, as if something very wrong and off. Walking up towards the front of the Bulwark she tapped Roman's shoulder, before pointing at a landing pad on the ship. "No way," Roman says, "we're staying in flight just in case we've got to make a quick escape."

Something then pinged, before Roman looked down at his radar, noting a single fast-moving object for the ship. "Swallow be advice, we've got company coming in…Swallow?"

Roman saw the object going in at a low flight path, a suicidal flight path, only he didn't see the ship open on them at all. Roman's eyes widened for a moment, before he felt uneasy as well. "Neo have you fixed our coms?" Roman inquires, "I can't get Swallow on."

Neo looks around the Bulwark to the two other men in the craft, before sighing, she then signs to Roman. _"Those two are guards Cinder provided us, I don't know them, I doubt they can read sign. Something is very off."_

Roman nodded and signed with one hand, _"you're right…I can't raise Cinder either…maybe those are backups she hired to insure we get this done."_

 _"_ _Very doubtful…"_ Neo signed as she walked over to the mobile relay, she shot a glare at both men before she started back working on the relay.

"So, you boys are new here…what's Cinder paying you?" Roman asks as Neo looked at him, "because I will be honest right now this actually a pretty boring mission. Usually we have someone pulling guns on us, giant robots to fight, yatta-yatta…so tell me is this your first mission?"

"Yes sir." One said as she clutched her rifle, "why do you ask?"

"Oh…you just seem well, a little too professional to be green." Roman shrugs, "I'm probably going to sweep in and take a closer look at who landed."

One of the guards walked up to Roman, the orangenette man hummed before whistling a familiar tune to Neo. The girl's eyes slightly widen, before she nodded and went back on the relay before looking at her parasol that was just right beside her.

"Need something miss Neo?' The guard inquired, but he seemed very tense…his body language was all wrong to be around allies.

It was almost as if he was getting ready to attack, so Neo did the one thing she knew how to do. She attacked first, lounging at the man, before headbutting him in the stomach and making him drop his rifle. The other guard turned around, pointing his gun at her, before lurching as Roman shot him with his cane-gun.

The two fell limp, one dead and the other knocked out cold, Neo reached into the pants pocket of the man she knocked out. Noting the feeling of a device much thicker than a scroll or gun, she pulled it out, before her eyes widened in realization.

It was a jammer.

* * *

Swallow and Snake stopped inside where the blueprints should be in a small room, however, what they saw a piece of paper attached to the wall. Snake shook as she walked over, "Cinder…I think someone set us up…Cinder?"

She grabbed the paper, before looking at it, it wasn't in Cinder's handwriting. It was plain as day however, on it was the symbol for Shi-Yan's Murasaki clan and written in almost perfect handwriting it stated something that made Snake snap around and remove her mask.

Swallow watched as she handed the paper to him, before looking at it.

 _"_ _Uzumaki Naruto is The Swallow."_

"Tell me…" Emerald looked on the verge of crying, "was everything for show…are you seriously trying to kill me?"

Swallow looked at the paper before shaking a little bit, "Em…I…"

"Answer the fucking question Naruto!" She screams as she pulls out her kusarigama. "You've been playing this shy and innocent guy from the start! You lied to me, you used me, you made me feel like I was worth something…only…only to collude with Roman and kill me! Is that why you're getting a paid million Liens…is it!"

The screeching sound of radios popping up and coming alive in the ship snapped their focus as a voice emanated from them. _"Guess your little fun and games is over now Naruto, you can take off that mask now…it'll feel pretty good not living in her shadow."_

 _"_ _Sasuke?!"_ Naruto mentally screams, before looking at Emerald who was shaking as she let tears fall from her eyes. "Emerald…listen to me…it wasn't fake outside of this mask. Please, trust me on that, but listen to me…I…"

"So, it is you!" Emerald screamed as she bawled slightly, "you…why?! Why not tell me you were Swallow, why would you not just come out and tell me huh?!"

 _"_ _It's actually quite interesting to hear you two lovers bicker, then again, I doubt any of you actually did anything of the sort. Naruto was always shy around girls he liked, he was probably afraid you'd not see him for who he really was…it makes me sick."_ Sasuke said over the ship's radio. _"You should come to the bridge Naruto…I believe we can have a little family reunion there."_

The radio cut out as soon as Sasuke said that, before Swallow removed his mask, and looked at Emerald as Naruto. "Em…I need you know this now. I'm sorry…" Naruto says as he turns his back towards her, "and if you hate me…I'll understand it."

"You're damn right I hate you!" Emerald screams as she came close to lashing out, "but tell me why didn't you just say you were Swallow…why not just be honest with me! Because now I must question everything, even this necklace…"

"That necklace around your neck belong my friend Sakura, she died trying to protect Shi-Yan, and I watched her die right in front of me…" Naruto says as he looks down the hallways before pocketing his mask, and sighing. "I gave it to you because it always brought me good luck..."

"Looks like you should've kept it…" She growls, "I'll give it back to you right now."

"No…" Naruto says, "keep it…"

 _"_ _Holy shit finally!"_ Both winced as Roman came online in their coms.

"Roman, where the fuck have you been!" Naruto nearly yells, "because I'm knee deep in shit right now!"

 _"_ _Cinder set us all up Swallow, she's trying to kill us, and I can't raise anyone at base to warn them. So…I guess she took care of that part. Listen to me, the bridge is the only safe place I can possibly land."  
_ "Do not go to the bridge!"  
 _"Why not?!"  
_ "I have a family reunion to attend…"  
 _"Wait Swallo-."_

Naruto took out the earpiece and smashed it under his foot, before giving a sad sigh. "Listen to me carefully Emerald…do not go back to Cinder, she's out to kill you for some reason or another. When we get to the bridge I'm going to probably be fighting the three traitors to Shi-Yan-sama…you're to get out of here."

"What makes you think I won't stab you in the back right now?" Emerald asks as she grits her teeth, "how the hell do I even know you're telling the truth about being one of the good ones from Shi-Yan?!"

"You can't!" Naruto turns around and screams back, "but that is what trust is Em! It's to take a blind step forward and hopefully not fall into a bed of spikes and die! I'll say it right now, regardless if you believe me or not, I fell for you! I took so many blind steps with you because I couldn't possibly know that you were trying to use me or that you were interested. Everything from day one, minus me being Swallow was the truth!"

Naruto gripped the mask in his hand, before throwing it in his jacket's back pocket, "and I'll say this right now Em…I feel so stupid right now for not telling you who I was…and I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I made you feel used, I'm sorry if you feel betrayed…I'm sorry if you loved me…"

Naruto had some tears rolling out of his eyes, "but I do love you…which is why I'm getting you out of here. After that, if you want to never see me again, simply don't visit Patch or call me…I'll understand."

Naruto began walking away, before Emerald quivered slightly, before walking silently behind as well.

* * *

Three masked figures stood in the rain as they saw a blonde and mint haired person walk out of the door they had breached in, before Dragon walked forward and removed his mask. "I'm the only one that gets to kill Naruto…understood?"

"Yes." Both said.

Ox looked at the girl behind Naruto, she looked devastated, before he chuckled. "You've broken her heart Naruto, too bad at the end of this night she may end up another sad dead girl." Ox comments as he reaches down and reveals a revolver.

"Leave her out of this!" Naruto yells as he looks at all three of them, the winds whipped at them, before he saw Roman flying in the clouds above them in his Bulwark.

No doubt he'd see the battle going on, and come to assist.

"I don't think you're the one to be giving orders Naruto, I am after all, your senior." Ox reprimands Naruto and mocks him as he chuckles, "but I'll make you deal…let us have the girl and we'll probably let you walk away."

"Screw you," Naruto growls as he gets into a fighting stance, "Emerald…do not get in our way."

"Aww," Sasuke mocks as he walks forwards with the two others, "how cute. So, you're the Emerald Cinder wants dead?"

Emerald looked at Sasuke with wide eyes, "w-what?"

"You heard me," Sasuke chuckles, "you're a broken tool to her. You're growing a heart, you see the pain of others instead of your own gain…you're a dull knife."

"And, dull knives do not cut flesh." Ox says as he walks towards them, "and I believe I'll take you on first."

"Me and Sasuke will take Naruto…" Eagle says with a heavy sigh, "I wish it didn't have to come to this Naruto…but you can still join us. Sasuke I think would be willing to have you by his side, right Sasuke?"

"Heh," Sasuke and his band of traitors stop, "actually that does sound like a good thing. Alright Naruto here's a deal, if you turn around and kill that girl behind you yourself…I'll let you live."

"You can't expect to kill someone I care for Sasuke, I'm not a heartless bastard like you!"  
"Oh, I do, especially if you want to live…be honest Naruto…all this money you're making, where's it going?"  
"None of your business!"

"Heh, easily played like a fiddle…well be realistic then? I have the powers of a demon, sage mode, and two Soshi. Ox here has the speed to keep up with you and the strength to power through you…and Eagle here knows all of your moves and will not leave you a moment to counter." Sasuke explained to Naruto as he crosses his arms, "killing her, the one you care about spares you and her from suffering."

"No, let the little bastard refuse Sasuke. I'll make sure to slowly crush that girl in front of him, break every bone in her body, make her scream out for him…before I break her tiny little neck." Emerald shook in fear as he man walked towards her, "how about it Naru-ah!"

Naruto blasted Ox back, sending skidding across the bridge, before they all turned to Naruto. "You're not the only one to possess Sage powers...Sasuke."

Naruto growls as he brings his hands to his side, "if any of you so much as a land a finger on Emerald…so much as brush against her…I'll…" Naruto roars out as blue aura exploded around him, "I'll make you pay!"

The wind blasting from made them all take a step back, his red eyes glowing as he set his sights onto Ox.


	22. Chapter 22

The winds whipped around Naruto as his sage mode came to life in full force, his blue aura flowing around him like a flame rather than hugging his body. Behind his back Wukong grew to the size of a normal staff, before his aura finally died down and dashed hard center against Sasuke.

The raven-haired traitor smirk as his own sage mode activated, but was stun to see Naruto immediately sidestep to the left and blur in front of who he then kicked full force across the deck, before Sasuke had a chance to react. Sasuke withdrew his blade from his scabbard and charged at Naruto as his wings formed and allowed him to fly towards Naruto at high speeds.

Naruto sensing the danger turned around on his heel and slammed Sasuke with a fully formed Rasengan and blasted the traitor backwards off the ship. Naruto watched as Ox charged towards Emerald who had her head hanging low, before he dashed in front of her and kicked Ox away. "Stay focused Em, this isn't about us anymore it's about survival!" Naruto tells her as she watched him form a barrier as a large blast of wind impacted it from Eagle.

Sasuke flew up into the clouds, before landing back down on the ship, smirking as he wiped a trail of blood off his lips. "Heh, not bad."

"Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yells as he tosses his attack towards the trio, Sasuke grunts as he goes to blast forth flame from his mouth.

He stopped once he noticed the attack split into two, "Ox look out!" Sasuke yells, Ox looks up but it's too late as his right arm was lobbed off with him forcing to shield the remainder of his body with his aura.

However, instead of blood leaking out, it appeared to just be oil. Ox easily got up from the attack, staggered slightly as he straightens himself before pointing his pistol at Naruto. "You little shit." He pulls the trigger and soon two rounds were fired, Naruto puts up a barrier to block them but forced to kick Emerald away at the last second when they breached through.

Emerald grunted as she was hit against the wall, before watching two bullets nearly land near her head, Naruto on the other hand left himself wide opened and Eagle appeared above him with his own Rasengan in hand. Naruto had little time to react, crossing his arms to form a barrier as Eagle slammed into him and sent them both into the bowls of ship.

"Naruto!" Emerald screams before attempting run over towards where he had disappeared only to see Sasuke land in front of her.

Sasuke stared right at Emerald, before cackling a little bit, he pointed his sword at her. "Don't go anywhere now, it'd be a shame for you to miss your own execution, useless tool." Sasuke mocked as he jumped down into the breach as well.

Emerald got her kusarigama into gun form and fired few shots at him, but by the time she had begun firing, he was already gone down the hallway where she heard explosions from.

 _"_ _Hey guys what going on down there, what's happening?!"  
_ "Roman we're being ambushed, get us out now!"  
 _"I'm on my way Street Rat."_

Emerald barely dodged a fist from Ox's left arm, before she saw him smirk under his mask. "I really should be making you suffer…Shi-Yan's necklace around your neck and all. I think I'll break your neck with it, at the least hang you up by it, let you choke to death."

"You won't get the chance," Emerald gripped her kusarigama so she could use them as melee weapons, "I'll kill you right here and now!"

Emerald threw one of the blades at him, before forming a mental image of herself dashing to the side to throw him off…only it didn't work when Ox fired a round off and nearly caught her head by it. He then sped backwards faster than she thought possible for his size and landed with a hard thump as he caught her left kusarigama easily.

"Heh," He pulled hard on the chain, making Emerald fly into the air, but was stunned when she flipped around and fired off bursts of ammo from her right gun/kusarigama.

He was forced to block them, only to feel something stab into his chest, he looked down smiling under his mask. Black oil leaked out slowly from where Emerald had landed and stabbed him through with her blade, "not bad kid…but you see I have no heart."

Ox retched as he pulled the blade before kicking Emerald clear across the deck.

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Eagle all clashed in a dark sector of the ship. Naruto holding the advantage due to the darkness, easily out maneuvering both and even having time to pause and recharge some of his sage energy.

Appearing behind Sasuke, Naruto blasted the raven head away with a Rasengan which lit up the room, before Eagle appeared behind him with his own. Naruto turned, kicking Eagle away, before grabbing Sasuke's blade as the traitor rebounded off a wall and headed by for him.

Naruto pressed the blade hard, breaking it, before using the broken piece to slash and stab at both Sasuke and Eagle before throwing hard against a fuel tank. "Damn it!" Sasuke yells as he stops from unleashing his flames onto Naruto, only to kick upwards into the roof of the sector they were in before getting kicked across the sector…lighting it up once he hit a wall to reveal a hanger.

Naruto stood in the middle of the hanger, breathing heavily as everyone watched as Eagle's mask slipped off revealing a redhaired man underneath it. "Had enough?" Naruto asks them as he drops back into a fighting stance, "Nagato…"

Nagato was breathing hard as he looked at Sasuke, before sighing, "Naruto please reconsider this offer. Lady Salem can give you all that you had back, she only wants your loyalty. I can talk to her, we can talk to her, all you have to do is kill that girl up there…what does she mean to you?"

"Everything Nagato," Naruto growls, "just like Shi-Yan and Sakura meant everything to me…just like my parents."

"Heh, so you're capable of moving on." Sasuke points out, "I think you could move on from her."

"Shut up!" Naruto yells at Sasuke, "I'm not talking to you right now."

Naruto turns to Nagato, "why elder brother…why did you kill Shi-Yan, why did you allow Sakura to die!"

"Naruto…"  
"Answer the damn question!"  
"It was for Konan!"

Naruto stopped, looking at Nagato as he yelled at him, "Konan died in an attack…I couldn't bring myself to tell Shi-Yan that Konan died instead of walked away. Konan was the former bearer of The Hummingbird mask, it hurt me every day to see Sakura walking around in it. Salem came to me, offered me a deal, saying she'd give me back Konan once all of the artifacts were gathered…she could make a world with no more suffering in it at the cost of our freedom."

"And, you think Konan would be okay with this?! What about Shi-Yan she raised you since you were a baby! Didn't she mean anything to you Nagato, huh?!" Naruto berates his elder as he scrunches his fists up, "and you expect me to walk away from Emerald and let her die?!"

"She doesn't love you, not anymore at least…she has that look in her now Naruto, she knows she can't trust you."  
"She has every right to have that look as well!"  
"Huh?"

"You're right, all I've done was lie about who I was behind this mask. Lied about my goals, my dreams, my personality was false…I had become Swallow and not Naruto Uzumaki. However, Naruto Uzumaki was truthful to Emerald…and I still hold out hope that I can fix what I broke!" Naruto tells him as he breathes harder, "you can still do the same…both of you can!"

"Why would I ever want to fix this Naruto?" Naruto watches Sasuke motions to himself, "I've grown beyond the limits of a human and have entered in the realm of divinity…near it at the very least. You're tipping on that verge as well, ancient blood flows within our veins, it's the reason why we can use our Soshi so well Naruto…join me…and let's rule this world and destroy all of those who oppose our goals…even Salem if need be."

Nagato and Naruto looked at Sasuke as he states this, "once a traitor always a traitor…Sasuke." Naruto mumbles as he takes a deep breath, "but you can take that offer and shove it."

"Nagato…let's be honest here, that dream world she wants to build? It's pathetic, I want my freedom…but if I subjugate everyone else to stop violence and even through the Grimm I will do so. Humanity is nothing but evil, we're not any different from any Grimm save we have souls…and even then, that's questionable." Sasuke tells Nagato, "I mean look at yourself…you killed your own mother for love…matricide is a grave sin."

Nagato hangs his head low, before looking at Naruto and then Sasuke. "Nagato…please, don't fight me anymore." Nagato turns to Naruto, "listen I get it…I would give anything to have Shi-Yan and Sakura back as well. However, they wouldn't want this…not like this at least."

"Be silent cur," Sasuke orders Naruto as he forms lightning in his hand, "I had about enough of this prattle. Nagato help me finish him off please, he's running low on Sage energy I can feel it…he can't keep recharging it repeatedly."

Nagato just stood there, looking at Naruto and then to Sasuke who then scoffs at him. "So be it."

Naruto and Sasuke charge each other with their signature attacks, blasting each other backwards when they nulled each other out. Naruto slid back, before nearly slipping on the oil covering the floor. Naruto's red eyes glowed bright as he saw Sasuke charge at him.

* * *

Emerald kicked Ox off herself, before slicing at him some more, "what the hell are you, a robot?!"

"Heh, little girl I'm human but with an upgrade!" Ox crashed his fist into Emerald's sternum as Neo charged at him and fired the rifle she stole off the dead guard a few times.

Ox formed a barrier with his aura, before stomping his foot on the metal which began creak as metal spikes shot up from where Neo was, nearly impaling her if she had not jumped up. Getting her blade out from her parasol, Neo spun it in her hand before taking a fencers' stance.

Roman came right by her side, his cane pointed at him. "Mess with one of us punk you mess with all us, Swallow and this girl are under my command and I'm not letting you take their lives so easily you robotized bastard."

"Heh, more the merrier." Ox chuckles as he points his gun at them.

He jumped backwards when Sasuke came careening out of the floor of the deck, before taking flight and growling as Naruto jumped up from the hole and landed besides everyone. His sage mode was dead as he was breathing heavily, he looked over to see Emerald had a few cuts and bruises on her face.

"Are you okay Em?" Naruto asks as he falls to a knee and tries to catch his breath.

 _"_ _Naruto…he's pushed himself too much."_ Emerald looks at him before sighing, "I'm fine…thanks for asking."

Slowly Roman and Neo looked at Naruto before looking at Emerald, "is that Swallow?" Roman asks as Naruto smirks.

"Damn you caught me, I'm a filthy animal." Naruto mutters, "go on and say it."

"Sneaky little fox…" Roman mumbles before sighing, "we'll talk later…plan, now."

"Don't have one…" Naruto mutters as he, "just get off this damn boat."

"Heh, like that plan right there."

Naruto took breath before channeling more aura through him, Sasuke eyes widened slightly as he landed by Ox, "getting a little old there, Ox? can't handle one broken dull knife?"

"Stop saying that Emerald's a broken tool Sasuke, she's not, she's actually quite sharp still." Naruto smirks as he looks at her before giving them a thumb's up, "your aura is almost depleted…few hits as you taken, Ox is still strong enough to push you back. I'm taking over from here."

"I don't mean to be that guy kid, but you look like you're at your limit." Roman points out as Naruto turns around before clapping his hands together.

"No way Roman, because the willingness to protect all that you care for gives someone no limits. This is my battle without limit, and I'm not wanting you all caught in the crossfire." Naruto says confidently, "besides Sasuke and Ox look tuckered out."

Emerald looked at Naruto, before she had a sad look on her face, _"was everything you did for me still the truth…do you…"_

Neo placed her hand on Emerald's shoulder, giving her a thumb's up, before escorting her towards the Bulwark. Emerald slowly started to walk away, before she stopped, and looked back at Naruto. She saw it, his aura fainting as he stood there…he was almost drained.

 _"_ _As weak as this Sasuke and Ox are…they're still in much better shape than Naruto. If Naruto killed Eagle then it should be assumed he can't keep his fight up against these two…why is he trying to die…he's got some many people waiting for him…I have…I have no one."_ Emerald scrunched both of her hands up as she walked away, _"did he really care? Am I just angry because of being shocked…why protect me?"_

"Gah, I can't do it!" Emerald yells as she pulls herself away from Neo and walks away from both her and Roman. "Start the damn Bulwark, I'm not letting someone I care for die!"

Neo and Roman looked at each other, nodding, Sasuke watched as they started run for the Bulwark before pointing his hand out. "Chidori Senbon." Lightning crackled around his hand before a barrage of needles made of electricity flowed from it.

Roman looked behind, before see Naruto blur in front him with a Rasenshuriken in his hand and blasting the needles away with it like a shield. "Your fight is with me Sasuke!"

"Let's do this Sasuke…" Ox says as he charges at Naruto, pointing his gun at him only to find his good arm wrapped up a chain.

"Where do you think you're going tough guy!" Emerald yells as she yanks with all her might, tripping him as he loses his balance and falls onto the ground.

Naruto smirks, before heading right at Sasuke. Both clashing with their fists as they both blurred around the deck. Occasional both threw a punch that connected and made a solid booming sound as their shadows danced around the ship's deck.

Emerald spun her kusarigama around and began to fire the guns that were built into, Ox using his aura to block the bullets before stomping his foot on the ground and watching Emerald jump out of the way as spikes rose where she had been standing.

Naruto landed besides Emerald as he blocked a punch directed for her by Sasuke, before kicking the dragon mutant away, "I said your fight is with me!" Naruto screams as he spins Wukong around and charges.

Sasuke form a blade of lightning in his hand, and both charge at each other, resuming what they were both doing moments prior.

Emerald kept firing at Ox as she dashed away from the metal spikes, before dodging a bullet. She used her semblance to keep Ox from getting a direct target on her, luckily, he was still missing, and he had to reload his gun.

Emerald lobbed her kusarigama at him, before yanking hard back, intending to take his other arm, only for him to easily dodge it and fire a couple of rounds at her. Emerald was then grabbed by Naruto as the bullets neared her, and she kicked Sasuke away when he closed on them both.

Naruto and Emerald stood back-to-back as they fired/blasted rounds and wind into their respective opponents. "We will not lose!" Emerald says as she charges at Ox while Naruto charged at Sasuke.

Naruto spun Wukong around before striking Sasuke several times across his entire body, knocking him away as he turned around and saw Emerald dodging against Ox before she wrapped his arm up and threw him over her shoulder.

He nodded, before being kicked by Sasuke and sent careening backwards. "Gah!" Naruto yells as he straightens up and forms a Rasenshuriken. Throwing it, he watched as Sasuke dodged it as it exploded, whipping up a small tornado on the deck of the ship.

Sasuke came at Naruto before he smirked and flew upwards into the air. Naruto watched as Sasuke pointed his hand at the sky, "behold the might of dark aura Uzumaki Naruto!" A formation of lightning came together a crackling electric beast with shining eyes, "behold Kirin!"

Naruto formed a large Rasenshuriken, before both launched their attack at one another, time slowed down right before both attacks met. Naruto was already dashing over to Emerald in use of the clash to distract Sasuke long enough to permanently put down Ox.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had formed a lightning blade and was heading right for Emerald. Naruto reflexes and senses picked up on this as the light covered the entire deck, leaving only shadows of the fighters on the deck.

Ox was about backhand Emerald when Naruto came with a Rasangan and blasted him away, only then through the explosion did he hear Sasuke's lightning crackling. Naruto's eyes widened, before he pulled Emerald away and threw her to the ground and saw Sasuke coming with a maniacal look on his face.

Only then he feels Sasuke lightning cut through him, stabbing through his chest.


	23. Chapter 23

Emerald saw where Ox was down, looking like for the count, before she felt something wet on her face. She touched it, seeing that it was this sticky red substance…blood. She looked up, before her eyes welled up with tears. "Why…" She mumbles, "Naruto…"

Naruto chuckles as blood runs down his mouth as he held Sasuke in place with one hand while trying to send a Rasengan through the traitor's head with another. "Bec-because eve-everything I told you was the truth…" Naruto coughs a little bit, "and I reacted as anyone would protecting the people he cares about most…"

Sasuke chuckled as, Naruto's hand started grow weaker, "you get to die the same exact way as Sakura did. Well, in a moment at least I seem to have hit your lung more than I did your heart."

Naruto chuckles as he headbutted Sasuke, breaking the traitor's nose, "screw you…Sasuke. I'm not…I'm not dead yet."

Sasuke places his foot on Naruto's sternum before kicking him off, more blood flowed from the now open wound that Naruto held as his breathing became labored, "I wonder how long your aura can keep oxygen going in your body Naruto. Your lung pierced, it should be feeling up with blood…you'll soon lose consciousness."

"So…" Naruto mutters as he falls to one knee, "like I said…I'm not dead y-ah-yet."

Naruto actually had a smile on his face, "you know it's that smile that makes me hate you the most. How can you still have the will to smile, knowing that I'll kill her once I'm done with you?" Sasuke asks pointing at Emerald, "are you blindly confident in your ability to protect her?"

"N-no…" Naruto says as he struggles to stand up, "I just won't die until I know she's safe."

Emerald was sobbing as she watched Naruto struggle to stand up, before she watched him charge. A roar filled the air as Sasuke merely kicked him back to the ground, a sneer on his face as he leered over the helpless blonde. "It's said that our ancestors, faunus and humans fought wars before…trying to prove who was strongest. Faunus took love too much into account, surrendering when their families and homes were threatened…humanity on the other hand pushed forward regardless…sacrificing each other for the sake of dominance."

Wukong was lying next to Emerald, Naruto had dropped it when he had taken the blow for her, Emerald looked at it before looking back at Naruto. He was standing back up, gripping Sasuke's clothing as he did to help himself get up. "Remove your paws off me…filth." Sasuke kneed Naruto in his face as the blonde continued to get up.

Naruto swung wildly as he barely blocked a casual slap from Sasuke, who smirks before hitting him right in his wound. "Raaah!" Naruto screams in pain as he backs up, before growling at Sasuke. "I'm no-not g-goin-going down S-Sasuke!"

Naruto stumbled forwards, before kicking at Sasuke, who was stunned by the action long enough for Naruto land a direct hit. Sasuke reeled back before using the momentum to send an uppercut into the teen's jaw. Naruto was up in the air, before he landed hard back on the deck.

Emerald watched as Naruto got back up, "stop…" she begged him before he looked over at her and smiled as he got back up.

"I…I-I'm not fi-fighting…to kill him," Naruto had blood running down his mouth, "I…I...am fighting to pr-protect the o-only pe-person I…cared th-this much for…"

Emerald's eyes snapped open, before Sasuke looked at Naruto. The snickering of the raven-haired teen made both look at him. "Yet, you lied to her…about who you are…lied about what you did for a living. You're nothing but a trickster Naruto, a heart stealer…"

"I neve-never loved Sakura…Sasuke…" Naruto says as he takes a step forward, "I was…I was too young to even know what actual love was…"

"Then what is love to you, Naruto?" Sasuke inquired as he chuckles, "is it worth this?"

"Yes…" Naruto says as he considers his rival's red eyes, "every ounce of blood…"

"Fool…" Sasuke dashes over to Naruto.

He kicks the blonde several times, before punching him across the face, sending him to his hands and knees. "I will not kill you until I break you, why won't you break Naruto, admit that you're wrong about this world and all of it's people!"

Naruto caught Sasuke's foot, before twisting hard with his hand, Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt Naruto pop his ankle out of place, forcing him to collapse. Just as Sasuke falls, Naruto launches himself forward, before tackling the raven-haired youth to the ground.

Sitting on top of his Sasuke, Naruto was illuminated by a flash of lightning, behind him for a moment Sasuke saw the look of a younger Naruto. Naruto now of the flash saw a younger looking Sasuke, he cocked his fist back before punching Sasuke in face.

However, at best, the blow was like a love tap as Naruto's strength weakened. Sasuke raised up, punching Naruto off him, before kicking him across the deck towards Emerald.

Looking down at the blonde, she watched as he had tears rolling out of his eyes, before looking back up at her. "Why…are you crying?" She was stunned by the question, "don't you know that…you look…more beautiful smiling?"

Naruto's eyes shook as the light in them slowly faded, living dull blue eyes, like an ocean that was stagnant instead of moving. Emerald wept before looking up at Sasuke, and growling.

"Stop it…" Emerald growls out which wasn't lost on Sasuke, "leave him alone."

"Aww, how adorable, new deal tool." Sasuke grabs dagger from under his cloak and tosses it to Emerald, "kill Uzumaki and I'll spare you."

Emerald grabs the knife, throwing it back at Sasuke, who grabs it and slices an energy blast that was launched by Roman from the Bulwark.

* * *

"Damn it!" Roman shouts as he loads a clip into his cane-gun and aims only to have dagger thrown into his arm, "fuck!"

Roman howled in pain as the blade was sunk into his bone, disabling his arm until he could get the knife pulled out.

* * *

"Trash protects trash," Sasuke snickers as he nears Naruto only for him to watch as Naruto got up once more, "still haven't howled your last fox?"

Emerald watched as he weakly held his arm up, giving her a thumb's up, before slowly walking towards Sasuke. "Naruto…please…stop!"

Naruto couldn't talk anymore, his blue eyes lacked life in them as blood flowed from his mouth like saliva. Walking forwards, he stumbled around before forming a Rasangan in his hand. Sasuke chuckled as Naruto leaped out at him, only for him casually take a step back and avoid the ball of energy.

Sasuke watched with twisted amusement as Naruto fell onto the deck, before his breathing became more labored."

"Grovel…" Sasuke placed his foot on Naruto's back, "beg me…beg me not to kill her Naruto!"

"Stop it!" Emerald screams as she picks up Wukong and thrusts it out at him like a spear, surprisingly Wukong extended outwards and blasted backwards.

Emerald had tears flowing from her eyes as she walks over to Naruto, and sees him nearly dead, before she felt something rush into her. A golden energy from Wukong flowed into her, before she was covered in golden aura.

Spinning the staff around, she felt it pulse in her hand, as if it was fusing their energy together. Placing her hand on Naruto's chest, small bit of that golden energy flowed from it into him, before his eyes had some life returned to them.

"E-E…" Naruto looked up at her, weakly shaking his head, "d-d-doo-nt."

"I won't stand by, I will not let you harm the one I care for most…the one who shown me what it's like to have true friendship…true love. I will not let you harm anymore," Emerald gripped Wukong, "bastard!"

Sasuke got up from the ground, chuckling as he wiped blood from his mouth, "pathetic insect."

Sasuke charged at Emerald who used her new power to counter him by knocking him away, before following him with her red eyes. Emerald charged forwards before engaging Sasuke, the greenette and brunette clashed in flurry of blows.

Sasuke's lightning blade clashed against Wukong as Emerald howled in anger as she knocked him away again, "you'll pay for making his life miserable!" She screams as she jumps up and extends Wukong out to spear Sasuke only for him to dodge at the last second.

 _"_ _Incredible…Wukong chose her!"_ Sasuke eyes widened when Emerald's locked with his, she was out for nothing but blood. "Come then, make me pay bitch!"

"Raggh!" Emerald cried out as she turned, and then slammed Wukong into Sasuke.

Sasuke went flying, but smirked as he formed another Kirin, and sent it right at Emerald. She held up Wukong which took the brunt of the blast, but knocked her across the deck of the ship as well. Emerald got up, before feeling more of the power flow into her.

Emerald stops before she feels the energy flow through her hand and blasts it out at Sasuke, who barely dodges the energy blast before charging at her. "Die!" He screams as he thrusts his lightning blade at her, only for knock it away with Wukong much to his shock.

"Never!" She screams as she spins Wukong around and hits Sasuke several times before kicking him away.

She charges, noticing Neo heading for Naruto to drag him back, he wasn't even awake right now. She was just praying to whoever that was listening that energy from Wukong would be enough to stabilize him.

"Raaghh!" She turned to see Sasuke exploding with dark purple aura around him, "I'll erase all that was Shi-Yan!"

"You cannot erase the will to protect!" Emerald yells as she knocks Sasuke around, before blood ran down her nose, _"this thing is eating away at my life energy despite it giving me energy…"_

Emerald shook her head, clearing the glaring problem away as she reengaged Sasuke and began to extend and recede Wukong to keep him off balance.

Sasuke was stunned to say the least, he was being pushed back by this dull tool!

"Kirin!" Sasuke yells, slamming another electric beast into the ship, making it tip slightly while missing Emerald.

Emerald screams as she appears behind Sasuke, "I'll end you raah!" Emerald screams as she thrusts Wukong out and catches Sasuke in his back and makes him onto the ship.

Sasuke was slammed into the airship, before he kicked Wukong off him, coughing up blood. Flying out of the hole, Sasuke cackled as he saw Emerald breathing hard. "Guess we all underestimated you," he snickers, "but it seems the wind behind your sails is slowly fading."

Emerald tries to draw out more power from Wukong, but fails and her aura disappears. She falls to a knee, before hearing someone walk behind her. She looked in a small rain puddle, before noticing it was Eagle, it would seem Naruto had failed to kill him as well.

Neo, and Roman were looking on in baited breath, wondering if they were about to leave Emerald here a dead woman. Neo clutched Naruto's hand when he struggled to breath, spasming slightly, "E-Em…Em!"

Eagle looks down at Emerald, who was breathing hard, "you should feel proud…Wukong rarely chooses two living wielders." Eagle says as places his hand on her back, she whimpered and felt powerless as he chuckled. "Tell me something, what would you've done if you made it back alive? Would you had stayed with Naruto and maybe one day find happiness together away from these types of conflicts?"

Emerald sobbed a little, she was going to die! "Y-yes…"

"That's all I wanted to hear," Emerald felt him grab her by her back piece of armor and then hurled her towards Neo inside of the Bulwark.

The poor multicolored haired woman had no time react as Emerald smashed into her, sending them both careening against the walls of the Bulwark.

Looking down at his feet, Eagle slowly removed his mask before wrapping it around Wukong as he watches Ox get up. "Nagato…what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Nagato throws Wukong and his mask into the Bulwark as Emerald looks at him.

"Naruto's right, Konan would've never wanted this…" Nagato says as he looks at his two former partners, "so I'm repaying him by making sure you two don't make it off this airship alive!"

"Your filth!" Ox screamed as he pointed his gun at Nagato, "die traitor!"

Nagato looked behind him, nodding to Emerald as he dashed towards both Sasuke and Ox. Forming Rasengan in his hand as he seems to slide along the steel of the deck. He crashed down on Sasuke and Ox, forcing them inside of the ship.

"Roman, let's go!" Emerald yells as she crawls over to Naruto to hold him steady.

"Right!" Roman says as he managed to pilot the Bulwark off the ship with one good arm before letting Neo take over.

Emerald tosses the two bodies of the bodyguards out of the Bulwark so she can get Naruto flat down. She holds her hand over the wound, before seeing that he was still bleeding, but his eyes were open. His vision fluttered as she looked at him, "Naruto…please…stay with me. You promised me, remember, you never go back on your word."

* * *

Nagato and Ox were punching at each other as Sasuke came from behind and attempted to spear Nagato through. "Almighty push!" Nagato screams as he launches a blast of wind around him, warping even the metal in the room they were in before he dashed and kicked Ox out of the room.

Nagato and Sasuke engage each other before Sasuke blows fire from his mouth to counter Nagato's wind attack and forcing him to dash through the ship. They soon in up the hanger, where Nagato looked at their Bulwark and smirked.

Sasuke and Ox landed in the hanger, before looking right at Nagato as he pointed his hand towards the aircraft. "You wouldn't dare…I've rigged this place to blow."

"Heh," Nagato looked right at him, "that's the thing…Atlasians think because they can build grandeur weapons that they hold all the power…but be careful."

They watched stunned as Nagato blasted the aircraft off, making Sasuke roar out in anger as his wings deformed, "because one's own sword can be used against himself."

"You fool!" Sasuke screams, "you'll die here along with us!"

"Naruto was asked by you what love really is, and Sasuke, wanna know who taught him those principles?" They both looked on as Nagato smirks and clasps his hands together, "I did."

Nagato roars out as he formed a massive Rasenshuriken in his hands, holding it above his head with both hands, before looking right at them. "To protect those I cherished most, to remember those I loved most, I end this here! Sasuke, J-aah!"

Nagato had a gunshot rip through his chest, before he smirked, "die..."

Sasuke and Ox watched as the massive ball of bladed wind headed for them, before Sasuke eyes started to change once more.

* * *

Emerald and co. minus Naruto were looking out of the windows, before watching on as The Sanquis exploded with a massive burst of black flames and wind. Leaving the ship tatters, before she watched it slowly began to fall towards the ocean.

She made her way over to Naruto, before looking at him, "Naruto…"

Naruto was weak, very pale, and breathing hard. "E-e…Em…"

"We're going to get you somewhere, so please don't die…" Emerald placed her hands back on his wound as Neo walked over and helped her put pressure on his exit wound. Their hands were soaked in his blood, before he looked at her in her eyes.

His shaking blue eyes had tears rolling down them as he saw Eagle's mask laying on Wukong, and Naruto slowly had his eyes roll back into his head as he finally gave himself up to the calling of the darkness.

"No…no-no-no-no!" Naruto breathing stopped before Emerald screamed, "No!"

She looked over at Neo, before the girl tore piece of her clothing off into a makeshift plug to stop further bleeding as they flipped Naruto over. Emerald began to administer CPR as soon as possible, she tasted Naruto's blood in her mouth but powered through the sickening taste as she breathed into him.

Neo for her part felt something slip down her eye.

* * *

Naruto was walking around in a white void as he looked around, he noticed that he was wearing a pure white cloak. Slowly he walked in the light, before he had tears fall as he felt warmth. "I…failed them…"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto snapped around to see two people he hadn't seen in almost eight years. "I think you've done a pretty good job…and you've got a long road ahead still."

"Mother…father…" Naruto looked at the two, they were wearing their white cloaks as well. "Where am I?"

"The in between…" Kushina says as she walks over to Naruto and cups his face, "my Gods…you've grown so much."

"Heh," Minato walked up to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder, "and he grew up to look like me…I won again Kushi-chan."

"Fa-father, why are you both here, am I to be escorted by you?" they both looked at each other, before laughing.

"No silly, we're just here to give comfort in your long sleep…"  
"Long sleep?"  
"Can't you feel it, that warmth? It's practically glowing."

Naruto looked down at his chest, before seeing a bright spot over where his heart was, "my heart…it's glowing."

"It's filled with love," Minato pointed out, "and hope…dreams…and life. Son, you're not done yet, but we've got a while to talk before you wake up once more."

"So, I'm not going to die?" Naruto asks them, before both chuckle.

"No, not yet at least, everyone has a time Naruto. Our time ended tragically, but you still have a lot of things to accomplish."

"And, I want to start it off by standing that your boy is a hero." They all turned around to see a graying purple haired elderly woman slowly walking with a staff, she smiled as she looked at Naruto. "Hello Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Shi-Yan-sama…" Naruto mutters, "you're here too?"

"She's not the only one," Naruto's fox ears perked up at the voice, before he saw Sakura walking behind Shi-Yan. "Hey…Naruto…"

"Okay, for real, am I dying!" Naruto yells as he freaks out, "because this is like I'm dying!"

"Hahaha, heavens no." Shi-Yan says as she crosses her arms, "Naruto…you've continued my legacy."

"You taught me what it meant to seek out the weak and nurture them, how could I not?" Naruto asks as he looks at Shi-Yan smiling.

"Hehe," Shi-Yan looked at Kushina and Minato, "I'm very sorry we didn't meet in our previous life. Your son is a darling of a pupil, caring and compassionate."

"I also want to beat him for turning to doing what he's done for a living," Kushina sighs, "but I suppose even evil actions for the good are still good actions if they help someone in need."

"So, wait a minute." Naruto says, "you all know what I've been doing?"

"Right down to you thinking the naughty thoughts of that girl Emerald while in the shower." Kushina teases him.

"Mom!" Naruto whines as he looked away blushing, "that's not cool…"

Kushina and Minato laughed, "still the same boy under all that grown up façade."

"So…what happens now?" Naruto once asks as he looks at everyone, "if I'm not dead…nor am I dying…why am I here?"

"That's a good question…" Minato says as he looked at Kushina smiling, "I guess The Twins are giving us a moment together…don't worry though I'm sure they'll return you before long."

"Twins…the Gods of old?" Naruto questions, "they personally sent you to me?"

"No, they just allow souls to visit family that is in the in between to give them comfort…" Minato tells him.

"You and I were like brother and sister…granted we almost…you know…" Sakura lightly blushed, "but I'm glad Nagato cleared the air between us."

"Naruto…" Shi-Yan looks at him before giving him a sad smile, "my daughter and son in law wait for me…so please sojourn here with your sister and family. I will bring Nagato here to see you."

"What happened to him," Naruto looked at Shi-Yan as she started to fade into white mist, she turns and smiles at him.

"You saved him…"


	24. Chapter 24

"Look Roman, we've been in business together for how many years, I cannot simply keep an unidentified patient in my Hospital…besides you're not really supposed to be out in public." A Doctor argues as he looks outside of the door, "I can't give him surgery without next of kin being able to sign off."

"I got that," both turned to Emerald, "I'm…not married to him, yet."

"Ah yes," Roman plays along with the lie, "this hear is the boy's fiancé. They're from the type of clan thingy that they marry off young powerful warriors, this has to count, right?"

"I suppose, but you must provide prove of engagement." The Doctor tells them, before Emerald holds out the necklace Naruto gave her. "Aw yes, that seems about right."

The Doctor looked at Naruto who was on life support, "he's lucky to be alive even now. I can prep for surgery, but it'll be a long one, and I'll have to wait a couple of days before I can get my surgeons aboard. I give him at the very most a thirty percent chance of survival…"

Emerald bit her lip at the information, before looking at the doctor, "what would he need to improve his chances?"

"Blood transfusions, he's lost a lot of blood, I'm scared to take him to surgery now due to how weak his body already is. I'll need to run tests for blood type, diseases, these all take time and…well…money." Roman rolled his eyes before glaring at the man.

"I don't care how much it takes, get him going, and if he matches one of our blood types we'll gladly give the blood." He looked at Neo and Emerald who nod with his words. "See."

"Fine," The Doctor says as he looks at the teen in his comatose state. "you said that he has done humanitarian work?"

"He raises orphans, he currently has a group of children living with him…he's had them long before I came into the picture. So, don't be surprised if I come up here with a group of children sometime soon…" Emerald tells him, "just please Doctor Shimada don't let him die."

"I can't make that promise girl, no one truly can, but since Roman here is adamant on me saving his life…I guess I can give it my best shot. However, you said that he was Hunter?" Everyone nodded, "I don't think there is a future in that for him anymore."

Everyone's eyes widened, before Emerald's eyes slightly watered. "He'll actually be lucky to walk again, whatever cut into him actually partially cut his spin. Not enough to fully cut it off, but enough to cause nerve damage…I'm surprised he didn't go down the minute he got stabbed let alone afterwards."

"Naruto here is one tough son of a bitch," Romans boasts as he pats the boy's shoulder, "and if he has a say in anything he'll probably flick off that notion."

"It'll be a long road…" Shimada says as he writes on his chart, "physical therapy alone will take four months…and like I said he'll be lucky to be walking with cane after that."

"Then I will do my duties as his love and take care of him," Emerald tells the doctor, "and I'll stick by him and give him the strength he'll need to make it through."

Neo looked at Emerald smiling, before jumping up as well, she held up a sign. _"Let's kick ass!"_ everyone looked at Neo before she looked at the sign and shrugged before tossing it out of the window.

"I owe him for making me as successful as I was," Roman sighs, "and plus I think I can't simply walk away from this one."

Shimada nodded, "the blood type test will come back in a day. If you match we can take him to surgery the next day and have him ready to go."

Everyone nodded, before they all started to walk out of the room. Emerald stopped before she looked at Naruto and let a tear fall from her eye as she walked over to him. _"Naruto…"_ She reaches down and grabs his hand, _"when you wake up…I'll be here."_

* * *

Ayame was sobbing as she took the next flight to Patch, "Emerald…please tell me he's okay!"

 _"_ _He's stable, but in critical condition, they said that the wounds were very grievous and it'll take time for him to come out of the coma. I'm going to level with you…I'm scared…he has a thirty percent shot."  
_ "Emerald…I'm on my next flight, I'll be there tonight. Where are the kids?"  
 _"I'm on my way to them now, there at Taiyang's we'll be a Naruto's new house."_

"Right…" Ayame choked back a sob, "I'll be there as soon as a I can."

The line was cut as Ayame sat in her seat, crying as she looked at her scroll, she had her cover photo. It was of her and Naruto giving the camera a peace sign. Ayame scrunched the scroll into her hand, before she puts it down on her lap.

 _"_ _He's going to be fine…he's going to be fine…"_

* * *

Taiyang woke up to knocking on his front door, he had fallen to sleep on the couch, again. _"Hello, is this The Xiao-Long residence? Anyone there…Gama, Dukang!"_ Taiyang's eyes widened before he walked quickly over to the door and opened it.

He saw a mint haired girl with bags under her eyes and tear stains on her face, Taiyang looked at her before his eyes widened, "please tell that he didn't…"

"No, but he's in very critical condition…I'm sorry…my name is Emerald." Emerald looked at the older blonde, "I'm Naruto's girlfriend."

"What happened?" Taiyang asks as he sees movement out of the corner of his eye, "the truth."

"I can't really explain here…please Mr. Xiao-Long, I know who you are…Monkey." Taiyang's eyes widened, before he noticed the jade pendant on her neck, it was the necklace of the Swallow.

It was Shi-Yan's wedding necklace, Taiyang put his hand over of his mouth, before looking at her. "It was Dragon, Eagle and Ox…wasn't it."

"Eagle's dead." Taiyang nodded, "but the other two are unknown."

"Okay…I trust you, but I'm coming with you. I got a van in the garage we all can use to ride up to his house." Taiyang says as he walks by before accidently bumping into Aka, "oh sorry Ak-honey…are you."

Aka was sobbing as she looked at Emerald, "is Naruto…dead…" Aka walked towards the green haired girl, "please…not big brother…please…"

Emerald took the girl into her arms, before feeling the redhead sob into her, "No!" Aka screams into Emerald, "not Naruto…No!"

"Naruto's not gone Aka, he's still with us, he's in a very bad state." Emerald looked down at the redhead, "please don't say anything to your brothers and sisters yet. Just go and get them up."

Aka nodded, before running towards the guest rooms that were formerly Taiyang's children's rooms. Emerald sniffled a little bit, before Taiyang looked at her, "how bad is he…really?"

"Bad…" She sobs a little, "and it's all my fault…I was too weak to protect him. I lashed out at him during our mission…I said I hated him…and…and…I…"

Emerald puts he forearm over her eyes, she finally felt it crashing down around her, before she felt hug her. She moved her forearm to see Taiyang was hugging her, before older blonde held her tightly, "we all say things we regret."

"We regret the choices that hurt someone close to us, sometimes it's unintentional and at times it's that we feel hurt. However, don't forget the good things and let that darkness fill them up, I may not know you very well…however I can see it in your eyes that despite all that rage you don't hate him…quite the opposite. You love him so much that this is hurting you, and you need to let it out, and if you need someone to cry to…cry to his sister Ayame." Taiyang smiles as Emerald looks up at him, "and don't keep those emotions bottled up…"

Emerald scrunched her face up, trying to hold her tears, before watching as the kids came into view. "Because the Uzumaki family need you to be strong and focused…and you'll never be alone."

"Right," Emerald says as she nods and wipes a few tears away, "alright kids we're heading back to Naruto's new home…we've got something to tell you there."

Everyone looked nervous, before Emerald noticed two new boys walk into the room, Aoi and Ji.

* * *

Ayame was holding Dukang and Gama as they sobbed, before Emerald looked at the everyone. Aka and Li were holding each other crying as the two sisters tried to comfort each other, Aoi had tears coming from his eyes, his head hanged low.

Ji, Ji on the other hand was angry beyond any measure. "Who done this to Naruto!" he finally yells, "tell me right now!"

"Ji!"  
"Aoi, I…I…no…not Naruto, I…"  
"It's okay brother, let it go."

Ji threw his hands around as he tried to form words, before finally he broke down, and just let Aoi wrap him up in a hug. "Is there anything we can do?" Aoi asks, "we're pretty much the runners of things when Naruto is out on a job…"

"I need you two help me keep everyone together…" Emerald tells them, "because I am new to you all still…and I need you all to help me stay strong as well…it's a burden we all should've have never had to bare. However, I love your brother and I'll stand by you all as he would."

Aoi nodded, before looking at everyone, "Aunt Ayame what's your call?"

"We're to go to bed, try to sleep, and stay strong. Pray, pray for a miracle." Ayame tells them, "and hope that Naruto returns to us."

Emerald watched as everyone nodded, before Aoi and Ji looked at her. "Forgive me…" Ji says as he walks up to her, "I'm…I…just can't lose another family member."

Emerald nods as she holds out her hand to him before he takes and they both squeeze, "you won't."

Ji nods at these words, before everyone looks at one another. "We all need to rest…it's all that we can do now."

* * *

As everyone was asleep, Emerald stayed awake, before walking around the house. She sighed as she felt that it was empty, in fact everything felt empty for her. She hadn't felt this way in a very long time, and it scared her, because the last time she had ever felt this remotely alone was when she was street urchin

An urchin that had been cast out due to society and how it viewed parentless children. Emerald came to Gama's room before slowly opening the door. Gama was in her bed, sobbing as she prayed repeatedly for Naruto to come home.

A prayer that realistically…may never come true.

Emerald looked at the little girl, before she thought of a time that she'd be in the same type of bed…praying for her father to come home. Sighing with a heavy breath, she heard Gama whimpering before she walked over to her.

Sitting on the foot of her bed, Gama snapped her head to Emerald. "Em?"

"Yeah…it's me Gama." Emerald says as she looks at the young faunus, "you are holding up okay?"

Gama shook her head, before whimpering, "papa isn't coming home…is he?"

Emerald looked at the girl, before bringing herself to smile. "Yes, he'll be coming home."

"But, you said that he may not make it…Em…did you lie?" Gama asks as she sits up, "lying isn't nice…"

"No, I didn't lie." Gama's face almost went back to the sobbing state, but she then felt Emerald wrap her arms around her. "But, I know that's he's coming back."

Emerald watched as the girl looked at her, "how?"

"Because he's your father, and he's Uzumaki Naruto." Emerald points out, "has he ever broken a promise to you?"

Gama shook her head, "no."

"Then I promise you, from him, he'll come back to you…to all of us." Emerald says she holds out her hand, "we just have to have hope…"

Gama instead of taking the hand of Emerald, slammed herself into her, sobbing into the teen's shoulder. The little girl sobbed as Emerald brought her arms around her, slowly she began to rock the girl back and forth.

She herself held out the hope that her words would come true.

* * *

"Ji…" Aoi said as he looked at his little brother, he sees him looking out of the window and out at the moon.

"How many times has Naruto promised us that he'd come home…how many moons we'd have to wait…" Ji speaks with solemn, "but now I am scared that our big brother is gone…Aoi…what can we do?"

"We can have hope Ji," Aoi gets off his bed, walking over to him. "After all, that's what Naruto taught us to have…hope."

"Hope can't beat reality!" Ji yells, "you heard her Aoi…just thirty percent!"

"I believe that Naruto can win this." Aoi told Ji sternly as he crossed his arms, "and shame on you for not having faith in our big brother!"

"I love him Aoi!" Ji screams, "he's my brother…I…I…I just can't bear the thought…"

"You're afraid he'll die," Aoi walks over to Ji before placing a stern hand on his shoulder before JI noticed Aoi tear up, "well I'm scared too."

"You, me, everyone is. However, the difference here is that we can either choose the situation in front of us and despair in it, or have hope! Because hope Ji, hope is like love, it's powerful! It can make the impossible possible, you just need to hold onto the things Naruto gave us. We'll reach him, he'll come back, and next thing you know he'll be our new teacher." Aoi said as he brushed a couple of tears off Ji's face.

"Plus, Naruto has always come back to us, he'll come back now, just have faith." Aoi states as he hugs Ji, "he promised us…and he's always kept to his word."

Ji whimpered before hugging his brother back, both boys stood there under the moon light, "and remember Trio De Uzumaki is still a go!"

Ji pushed Aoi off him, before his sobbing transformed into small chuckles, "handsome Ji…"

"And I the great and powerful Aoi." Aoi boasts as he flexes, before both looked at each other.

"And our fearless leader, Naruto Uzumaki!" both boys said as they bumped fists, loudly proclaiming their titles and Naruto's.

* * *

Roman and Neo were in the basement of the house, standing across from them and a small table was Ayame and Taiyang. "So that's the story and full truth?"

"Yes," Roman told them, "seeing as I barely have any cards in my hands left I suppose the truth would be the best bet from here on."

"What Naruto did is equivalent to High Treason, but if it brought in the money to have this life I can see why he swayed all risks to do so." Taiyang says as he takes a deep breath, "but it's very interesting that you've been hitting Atlas targets instead of Vale ones."

"It's what Cinder Fall, our former benefactor demanded." Roman tells Taiyang as she crossed his arms, "and what Cinder wants…she gets."

"Save for Naruto being killed along with his lover."  
"That's because the boy even before I knew his name and his actual age was a stubborn bastard."  
"Heh, sounds like he rubbed off on you a little."  
"In a way, yes and some no."

Ayame looked at Roman, "can we trust you?"

"Can you trust Naruto?" Roman shot back as he brought his arms to his side, "he's been lying to every single one of us."

"Yes, but he did for all the right reasons, he couldn't trust you to be around them so, why can we?" Ayame narrowed her eyes, "and if Emerald was working for this Cinder woman…how can we trust her?"

"Look hate on me all you like, but leave that girl alone. I may be a horrible son of a bitch, but Emerald up there has had a hard life even prior to this. Her own master tries to kill her after making a tool for years, she just falls in love with some young man who may very well pass away in the next few days." Roman sighs, "she's probably trying to hold herself together a lot harder than we are."

"Ayame," Taiyang looks at Roman in his eyes, "he does have a point. I spoke with Emerald…she is very legitimate when it came to Naruto, she blames herself. Sitting around here, arguing will not change what has happened…only action can cause a reaction."

"You're correct Mr. Xiao-Long, which is why I and my lovely assistant have already have come up with a grandeur revenge that will make Cinder regret the day she ever thought that Roman Torchwick would go silently into the night." Torchwick passionately proclaims as he made Neo slightly blush, before nodding.

She took off her necklace, before smirking rather maliciously as she pulled it apart…revealing a flash drive.

"On this very flash drive was an insurance policy that I started since day one with that bitch." Roman spat as he takes the flash drive from Neo's hands, "on this very small device is the location of all my dust warehouses…the stolen military tech and my many safe houses."

"Do you plan on turning yourself in?" Ayame eyes opened a little wide as she questioned the man.

"Fuck no," Roman chuckles, "I want the joy of taking this bitch down. A dish best served flame hot, broiled to perfection, it's called revenge."

Neo nods as she smiles innocently, almost too innocently as she takes the flash drive back, before looking at everyone.

"So, what are we to do?" Taiyang asks, "Naruto is our younger disciple brother…we never rat out our own. However, this is a large task, and we don't know how she's guarding them."

"Ahaha!" Roman stops him, "but I do!"

Everyone looked at Roman, "holy shit…you actually thought of everything." Ayame muttered aloud as they all watch Roman fiddle with his cane.

"Oh yes my dear, _everything_ and one blade I kindly wanna return to that bastard Dragon…hurt like hell pulling it out." Roman grits his teeth before calming himself, "let's be real however…without my men at my back I can't really do much."

"You got us," Taiyang states offering himself and Ayame up, "we're much more capable than your grunts."

"True, very true…" Roman sighs, "I suppose I can work with you two…"

"Actually, we can make that three." Taiyang says as he pulls out his scroll, "I have Iruka on speed dial…and the last time I check he has contacts in Vale and Vacuo."

"Vacuo…why would we need Vacuo?" Ayame asks Taiyang.

"Because, Viper is there…and if I know her best she never stands down a good fight and a drink."


	25. Chapter 25

Emerald tossed and turned as she laid in a hospital bed next to Naruto's, they had found out that her blood type was the only that matched his. Type B positive, that his type and her type as well, she was going to be a direct donor during his surgery.

His blood count was still low despite him being given blood bags, but that was due to the ongoing internal bleeding that managed to stifle to get his blood count increased. Emerald was nervous as she looked over at the still sleeping Naruto.

Taking a deep breath, she laid back, before looking at herself in the reflection of the window.

* * *

 _"_ _You will live to serve me and only me."_

* * *

A young Emerald sporting a ponytail was knelt on one knee as she bowed to Cinder, the young dark red eyed girl looked up at her master. "I will live to serve you and only you." Emerald says as she stands up, before Cinder looks at the girl with an amused grin.

"Lady Cinder, what would you have me do?" Emerald asks before Cinder snickers and hands her a dagger, "Lady Cinder…I…"

"You know what I want, who I want dead, go on now Emerald make it so."  
"Lady Cinder…I…"  
"Did you not just sweat feudality to me?"  
"Y-yes Lady Cinder…"  
"Then do as I say, Emerald…or would you rather grow back up on the streets I plucked you from in Vacuo."  
"No Lady Cinder…"  
"Good."

* * *

Emerald saw a young girl in her reflection, sobbing as she held the dagger in her hand, Emerald looked right the little girl in the reflection before having a tear from eye fall onto the bedsheet. _"I never deserved this life…I didn't deserve to have this happiness…what did I do?"_

People appeared behind the girl in reflection, all of them glaring right at her, and slowly the little girl morphed into the older Emerald. The greenette looked at herself, Emerald looked away, unable to look at herself. _"If I hadn't allowed him in my heart…he never would've fell for me…he wouldn't be in this condition."_

 _"_ _Just like the other people, I can't…I can't do any good!"_ Emerald scrunched her fists up, _"what if something goes wrong…what if something in my blood makes him die! This evil in my blood…what if it kills him!"_

Emerald clenched her eyes shut, _"I didn't want to hurt anyone…I just wanted a family!"_

* * *

In a dreamlike void, Emerald stood alone as people walked past her, she saw her younger self standing in the middle of that road as well. People in Vacuo called children that were unwanted The Damned, they either became criminals or died, and Emerald had become…and still was The Damned.

She saw her younger self begging for money, people just walking by her, before she noticed something about the dream. Looking at herself she held her head low, before mumbling, "maybe I should've just starved to death…so much suffering could've been avoided…"

"That's not true…" Emerald's eyes snapped wide open, before she heard the snap of fingers and the dream world went into a blissful white.

She turned around to see Naruto, standing in a white robe, with a big goofy smile on his face. "I don't think you yourself caused the suffering…if you suffered for it yourself." His face seemed much fuller of life than the one that was on the bed fighting for it.

"Naruto…how are you…" She was stopped when he placed a finger on her lips.

"That's not important Em…" Naruto says as he looks at her with a smile, "but I'll tell you what is important. You need to let go of the past…"

"How can I…Naruto, I've caused so much pain to other people." Emerald tells him, "I never deserved the happiness you gave me, I don't know why I even fell for you!"

"I don't know either," the words caught Emerald by surprise, "it just happened."

"Then why are you so keen on making me feel better about this, why did you jump in front of that attack, Naruto…I never…I…" Emerald started to sob as she grabbed his shirt, "I don't want to lose you!"

"Heh," Naruto chuckles a little bit before wrapping Emerald up in a hug, he felt very warm to her. "Em…remembered what I told you?"

"Huh?" Emerald felt a heat rising from her chest and she looked down at her necklace.

"I told you I would be there to protect you," Naruto smiles as he cups her cheek, "and I don't ever break a promise. So, stop crying over me, you shouldn't."

"You're hurt because of me."  
"I'm hurt because I chose to love you!"

The words smacked Emerald hard, before she looked at Naruto, "what did you say to me…"

"I love you," Naruto smiles, "and the old saying goes that love drives people to do stupid things. Even jump in front of a maniac with a lighting sword extended from his hand for the one he cares for the most…but that's okay."

Naruto rests his forehead against hers, before chuckling, "I think I promised you something else…something about a dance in Fall?"

"Naruto…" Emerald mumbles, "you mean to tell me…you're going to be able to that still?"

"Why wouldn't I?"  
"The doctors say you'd be lucky to walk."  
"Meh, screw them."

Emerald couldn't help it, even in the embrace of each other, she laughed at his choice of words. "You're so stubborn…"

"Guess that matches that hard head of yours," Naruto pokes her head before kissing her forehead, "but that only adds to what I love about you."

She felt her forehead tingle, before looking at him, "can you promise me something Naruto?"

"Sure," Naruto smiles as he and her lock eyes, "anything."

"Don't let me go…" Emerald weeps a little, "and don't go away…"

Naruto smiles before he kisses her, and the world around them filled with light.

"Do you even need to ask me?"

* * *

Taiyang and Ayame were walking with their full gear on, before coming to a warehouse in Vale. Tonight, before Naruto's surgery it was their turn to strike at their enemies, strike at them for hurting their brother and sister. "Dragonfly Viper should be on her way soon, I'll take point." Monkey/Taiyang told her before he walked forwards.

"Monkey, are you sure you want to go in like this?"  
"I never had the itch to break bones so bad, these bastards are threatening Vale…and my daughters…I want to beat them to an inch of their life."

Ayame/Dragonfly nodded before walking with him into the compound, before they had a third figure with a mask that resembled a viper's head drop next to them. "Any word on Dolphin?"

"No word yet Viper, I'm surprised you got here so fast."  
"I'm a commando elite general, I can get a transport craft within twelve hours around anywhere on Remnant and be somewhere in less than eight hours.  
"So high blooded, still itching for that fight and drink?"  
"Depends if Qrow is still in the area afterwards…been a while."

"Halt!" the trio turned to the lone guardsman, before the guardsman trembled looking at their masks. "P-p-please."

"Oh, this one knows about Dragon and Ox's power?" Viper inquired as she licked her lips, "too bad they'll know damn well not to mess with one of ours tonight."

"No deaths Viper, but break every…one…of their bones." Monkey states before he blurs out of sight and left the two women there.

"So, what are we really here for?" Viper inquires as she looked at Dragonfly as the woman generated flame in her hands before smirked and calming it down enough.

"Kingpin told us about a stockpile of military droids in one of his stolen warehouses…we're here to blow them up." Dragonfly walked towards the guy who took his rifle and pointed it at her.

She blurred and appeared in front of him, before grabbing his throat. "Gah!" the man tries to scream, only for Dragonfly to drop him and kick him into the side of the warehouse.

As they walked towards the door, Viper tilted her hand before a sword appeared in it, "god I love nanotechnology."

"Cut it open," Dragonfly says as he generates even more flame in her hands, "and let's get this party blazing."

Viper made very quick movements that created afterimages of herself, before the door fell to pieces as she tapped her blade on the ground, the two women walked in. Finding Monkey standing on two people, before looking at the droids and their guards.

Two guards came rushing towards them, and before Dragonfly could make her move Viper was already between the guards, her sword dematerialized as she stood between them, before they both dropped to their knees.

They were dead even before hitting the ground. "Viper, we aren't supposed to kill them!" Dragonfly chastised her senor as they walked towards the droids. Two more guards came out, only for the two women to see Monkey step in front of them.

As the guards raised their rifles up Monkey blurred in between them, before cracking both of their skulls together as he palmed them on their heads. Monkey looked at all the military gear before rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a plastic explosive (C4) and throwing it onto the middle most droid in the pile.

Viper took hers out, before tossing it on the roof casually, and chuckling. "I love it when things go boom."

"Make that four of us," everyone turned to see a man wearing a Dolphin mask approaching them, "I took out all of the surrounding guards."

"Fast as ever," Viper chuckles, "your explosive?"

Dolphin took his out, smirking under his mask as he turned around, and looked at the rafters. Cocking his arm back, he tossed it hard, before looking at Monkey. "So, what about these guys?"

"Drag them out," Monkey ordered and Dolphin nodded as he grabbed the guards before dragging them out of the building.

Everyone looked at each other, before nodding. "Should we leave our mark?"

Dragonfly and Monkey smirk under their mask as they began to walk out of the building. "I believe they'll know, but I bet you also brought the petrol to do so?"

"You know me so well," Viper states as she unties a flask from her beltline and walks with them outside.

She pours the contents down, forming symbols for Murasaki in the old language (ムラサキ) on the ground and chucked the empty flask away as Dolphin walked next to them, all the guards were piled on top of each other, before the quadrat looked at each other.

All of them reached into their pockets, pulling out their explosives triggers.

"I Dragonfly ignite the winds, my anger becoming flames so hot they melt steel."  
"I Monkey bring down heaven to earth to keep my family safe."  
"I Dolphin wish to bring justice to this evil and in hopes of nurturing the future generation."  
"I Viper just want to blow shit up already!"

All four of them clicked their triggers, and soon Vale saw and heard it. The biggest explosion they'd ever seen as droids and burn dust in the warehouse caught flame in the explosion and only made it a bigger one.

All four Murasaki members turned away from the burning warehouse, their aura activated to shield themselves as they watched the guards get shielded by Dolphin. Time seemed to slow down as they walked, before Viper smirked.

As they walked in the fire with their combined aura creating a barrier, all four of them looked towards the rising sun that peaked over Mountain Glenn. Taiyang/Monkey gripped his ring hand hard as he looked at it, Ayame/Dragonfly gripped her hands in anger.

Viper had the biggest smile on her face, and Dolphin had a smirk of his own.

The Murasaki Clan have finally come back home, and it was time to rebuild their ranks and stop Salem and her cult…once and for all.

* * *

Emerald was taking deep, very slow, breaths as she felt the needle pierce her skin. She saw her life water, her blood, being slowly pulled out through the small little tube in her IV line. "We can close your view off from him if you'd like, it's going to get messy."

"No," Emerald says as she looks at Naruto being prepared for surgery, "don't let him die…"

"We won't." Shimada states as he walks in, "as of right now this room is on lockdown. This surgery is to save the life of a young man, do not falter in my commands or be nervous. If something arises then we shall act swiftly, we are in watch of his loved one who is providing us time…precious time…to save his life."

"Yes sir." The team said in unison as they took positions around Naruto, before Shimada walked over to the boy and pulled the plastic flap covering his chest down.

"Scalpel," the doctor orders as a nurse hands him the blade, "alright first cut…"

* * *

Everyone was in the waiting room, Dukang and Gama were being held by Ayame as they laid against her. Neo was busy texting Roman on her scroll to keep him updated, she was unknown to the world, while he in turn was one of the most wanted criminals…so he couldn't just attend an event like this.

Taiyang fiddled with his thumbs as he looked at Ayame who had her head low and was praying.

Taiyang had informed the head master of Signal that his pick for their opening had suffered a horrible accident, a bit of a white lie, but it was horrible nonetheless. The head mastered agreed to hold the position open longer, given that politically it would be gold.

It made Taiyang sick to know that was only reason why…but he accepted it.

Aoi and Ji were sitting together, both meditating on their chairs, each of them focusing their aura out so they could mimic Naruto's ability to sense others around him. They had been self-teaching themselves newer things since unlocking their aura and joining Signal.

They finally managed to push their combined aura out to where they could see Naruto's, what used to be a flame of blue brighter than the sun they could see was nothing but a small flicker of sparks. Both swallowed collective spit as nervousness sat in as they saw several more auras move around Naruto.

Li was sitting with Taiyang, while Aka was standing up at the doorway. She wanted to be the first to hear the news, the first to know that her brother and father figure had made it…or perished. She had sat aside herself now, she sat aside fear and trepidation so that she could know…so she could hear three little words.

 _"_ _He made it"_ or _"We're very sorry."_

Those two, three worded combination, held two different futures for everyone.

One a very happy future where Aka would never talk back to Naruto ever again, she would strive to be more like Li and be cheerful. She'd be the perfect sister, she'd learn to cook properly, she'd control her temper…well maybe tone it down a little.

She'd hang out with Emerald, learn from her, and this Neo girl she saw texting on her scroll.

On the other hand, there was another future.

A very dark, and bleak future.

A future where she would be standing over the grave of someone who took her in without a second thought, someone who loved her like a brother and took care of her like she was own child despite being a shy five years older.

She'd have to bury him, she'd have to mourn him, and she didn't want that.

She stood at the door, clenching her hands, taking deep breaths, she felt her anger rising. She wanted to know, know now!

* * *

"Any word?" Asked a woman with pineapple style purple hair as she sat and leaned in a chair inside Naruto's basement.

"Not yet Anko." A man with equally styled hair states as he leans at the doorway, looking at Roman who was texting Neo.

"Everyone is tensed, they took Emerald into the room as well, she's giving him the plasma he needs to live." Roman tells them, "Naruto is a stubborn punk if there ever was one…but still there is more of a chance of him dying."

"If he dies, if I lose another disciple sibling, I'll be going on a goddamn warpath." Anko states, "so he better live for anyone wanting to see the next sunrise."

Both men paled, before nodding and taking a deep breath. "Anko no need for you to be so brash or hasty about things."

"Well, fuck me running, it's not like he became Shi-Yan!" Anko yells, "and he even took upon her teachings more to heart than any of us. I barely know him and I already deem him worthy of living…so he better come back or I'll be murdering every last cocksucker in that bitch's army!"

"You and I both know Salem would slaughter us in a head on battle."  
"Then what the fuck do you want me to do Iruka!"  
"Be silent for once!"

Anko glared daggers at the man, crossing her arms over her rather sizable chest, she huffed. "Still…something bugs me…according to Emerald Sasuke Uchiha is Dragon and was in the same generation as Naruto and the dead disciple Sakura."

"And?" Iruka motioned her to continue.

"Who the hell is he, Ox, the last time I checked it was me, you, and Taiyang in our trio counting Ayame as the fourth wheel do to her favorable father being able to convince Shi-Yan to take her on as a disciple." Anko summarizes for Iruka, "so that leaves us and Naruto's generation out."

"Ozpin," Iruka murmurs, "Ozpin was Toad in one of the older generations."

"Hold up, wait one damn minute, you mean to tell me The Headmaster of Beacon is a Murasaki?" Roman states, "so what are you…ninjas?!"

"Yes, we were taught in the hold ways of using aura." Iruka answered him before he sighs, "but out of Ozpin's generation there was Ox, Humming Bird and Eagle."

"Nagato, Konan, Port, and Ozpin." Anko named them off, "but Ox being Port makes no sense. Him and Ozpin went on to become teachers at Beacon and the last time I checked Port had no super strength or speed as his semblances."

"Someone either stole his mask or he gave it to someone he thought he could trust."  
"But that leaves Ozpin, but Ozpin is not conniving or evil…he loved Shi-Yan as a mother."

"Atlas…" Roman interjects and everyone looks at him, "whoever is behind Ox's mask has to be connected to Atlas!"

"Huh?" both Murasaki clan members looked at each other before looking at Roman.

"Think about it, how could anyone from Mistral, Vacuo, or Vale know of a defunct sky cruiser? Plus, most of Naruto's missions and my maps of said missions of are all from Atlas. So, someone from the inside has access to these maps, plus think about it…why such heavily guarded areas and then suddenly more secluded ones?" Roman asks them, before he smirks as Anko looked in awe.

"Bastard was fishing Naruto, and Naruto took the bait." Anko says as Iruka got up from the wall, walking over to Roman.

"That closes a lot of doors…but opens up a lot more." Iruka throws in as they look at each other.

"No, no it doesn't!" Roman almost yells, "pay attention! If they have access to government information and military information then they must be a high ranking official or military person."

"So, that leaves out a lot of commoners…but still this makes it even more tricky since we can't just waltz and kill the bastard…or bitch." Anko grits her teeth.

"No, bastard is the correct term." Roman told Anko as typed into his laptop, "but nonetheless…it makes things very tricky."

"Oh?" Anko hums as she looks at Roman, "how so?"

"Because based on this little information, I can give you five highly likely individuals to be Ox." Roman gets up, before taking a deep drag of his cigar.

"Jacques Schnee, current owner of the Schnee Dust Company. A man mired and dragged in the mud by the media for being a cruel and heartless bastard to his faunus workers. If there was ever a more cautious man it would be him…and he's actually intelligent and high born." Roman adds in.

"Hmm, guess that does make since…plus Naruto being Faunus would've set him into overdrive on being cruel as much as possible." Anko chimes in. "However, Emerald said that the man Naruto fought had a prosthetic."

"The next person I can think of is Head of Security…Asuma Sarutobi. Young and possess Super Strength as his semblance…but get this he has a prosthetic on his right arm." Roman points out, "and it's a higher-grade model as well."

"Sounds like he could be it," Iruka points out, "but Asuma would have to be near Naruto during the dates of the missions to hold true."

"Well since we eliminated two of the candidates' due to the prosthetic…that leaves Obito Uchiha as one. He's a upper rank citizen, save he's known for his charity work and general goodwill. He's actually apart of the wealthy Uchiha family…the same family that Sasuke is apparently cast out from." Roman says as he types on his laptop.

"How so?" Anko questions as she rights herself in the chair.

"Inner struggle, so he has semblance of speed and as such could easily have trained his body to match the super strength." Roman sighs, "but the last one…this one is what I pray for being wrong on."

"Who is it?" Iruka inquired.

"General James Ironwood."

* * *

Emerald watched as the doctors stitched Naruto's chest up, before she watched as he breathed into his air mask. She almost wanted to cry with joy as he had made it out, Shimada looked at the teen woman with a smile. "You did good, I'll have to keep you in for observation to make sure that shared blood doesn't cause any ill effects. However, I give Naruto a week before he wakes up."

"That's good…" Emerald sighs in relief, "Dr. Shimada how much physical therapy will he need?"

"A lot, he'll need help moving around after long distances, but he'll be better off training himself back up to par with a normal person. The road to recovery will be a long one…you aren't planning to leave him are you?" Shimada eyed the girl with suspicion.

"No, hell no." Emerald states, "I plan on being with him every step of the way…I just want a time frame so I can get him motivated to beat it."

"Heh, just a couple of hot heads in love, aren't you?" Shimada asks as he goes to walk out of the room. "By the way Ms. Sustrai, have you and Mr. Uzumaki engaged in cardinal relations?"

"No, why?" Emerald blushed at the question, "is there something wrong with my blood or his?!"

"No, no calm down, tis merely a formality question. I recommend no such activity for the next four months due to his heart being damaged by his _accident_ which will go on our official paperwork. However, since you both are till virginal I've no reason to worry for that part." Dr. Shimada said as he opens the door. "Rest easy, we'll be getting you carted out soon."

"Thank you," Shimada left the room as Emerald thanked him along with his staff.

Weakly she got up, before walking over to Naruto, and wrapped her hand in his. She kissed him on his forehead before resting hers' against his. Tears of joy streamed down her face as she clutched his hand.


	26. VACATION

Hello everyone, as we move towards the next arc in our story, I want to just give a thanks to all those that have supported this fic. Especially Rio Skyron, Senor Cheesecake, and Hecesferblade. They've been a big help in encouragement and help me plot out several things with the story that are going to happen in the next chapters.

So, on everyone's mind by now is who is behind The Ox Mask, and well as far as I can tell without spoiling it much let's just say that when it becomes revealed...it'll all make sense.

Anyway, as we move into thirties and pretty soon a 100k word count, I want to take the time to tell everyone this...I'm taking a vacation from writing this story, since I don't want to burn myself out on it and I need time to plot out the next TEN chapters since they'll be running concurrent to each other with little time skips (which is actually not the normal with this story, so I have to bring my A game...and in order to bring my A game I have to be rested and ready.)

My vacation will last about two weeks, going into the first of September, and for those that live in the U.S and subsequent countries with the holiday of Labor Day, I'll be releasing a chapter then. Exactly two weeks from now actually, so be prepared as we delve deep into the Naruto's romance with Emerald and get ready for characters to be added in rapid pace.

Not really a spoiler considering that it could be literally anyone, but who do you think will appear next...who do you think is behind that damnable mask in the form an Ox?

Two weeks from now, prepare yourselves as we march upon 100k

UPDATE!

(09/05/2017)

Anyway, sorry for not uploading on time. I had a family crisis over my weekend and my vacation kind of got screwed by it. I'm starting to write the new chapter as we speak, but the chances of it getting released tomorrow night are slim since I've pretty much exhausted and done with this entire week...anyway the next chapter is going to be out this week sometime, probably after that I'll re-find my mojo and groove and should be able to crank these babies out like cheese from Holland.

Anyway, have a good week, and stay reading!


	27. AN

As you may know I wrote a little reboot...I hated it and deleted it. So, in a few days (or even tomorrow) a new chapter will be uploaded.

Let's return back, screw a reboot.


	28. Rewrite vote

Due to the fact, a lot of these stories were written when I was writing at a less than stellar quality, and since I really don't have the patience with my dying computer to try and re-upload and re-edit.

So, I offer a choice.

Dearest (which was supposed to have a sequel that I never got around to making.)

Son Of The Demoness (which the concept is awesome, and was doing well until I got burned out due to family issues.)

A Family (family issues made me lose inspiration for this story, but I'm ready to try again.)

These three choices are up for the rewrite vote on my profile, simply just click on my name and BAM! You're there!

It'll be at the top of my profile.

I made mistakes in the past of promising you a chapter every week, but I cannot deliver them in that timeframe, but they will continue this time around. I'm just seeing which one people would want to go first.

Thank you for all your love, your support, and your encouragement.

-Blazeraptor54/Chris.

P.S. Sorry, this wasn't a new chapter, you can pick up your pitchfork and torches on the way out!


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